Pages from the Textbook of Alternate History

Pages from the Textbook of Alternate History
Author: Phong Nguyen
Publisher: Queen's Ferry Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014
Genre: Alternative histories (Fiction)
ISBN: 9781938466236

Fiction. Speculative Fiction. At critical moments in world history, every political, spiritual, and cultural leader foresaw a different destiny. Columbus planned a Western sea route to Asia; Hitler applied to art school twice; Joan of Arc prophesied that she would become a mother. It is out of their failures that history itself is made. But what if the history-makers succeeded in the fulfillment of their best-laid plans? In PAGES FROM THE TEXTBOOK OF ALTERNATE HISTORY, Phong Nguyen explores a myriad of pasts in which these icons of history made a different choice, and got what they wished for.

Alternate Histories of the World

Alternate Histories of the World
Author: Matthew Buchholz
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2013-10-01
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 0698139178

This remarkable collection of maps, photographs, engravings and paintings from the early ages to modern day provides a stunning new look at the world as defined by our struggles and alliances with the monsters and supernatural creatures that have defined our existence. Learn how a mechanical man helped write America’s Declaration of Independence. Track the course of the Living Dead virus from Africa to Europe and on to the New World. View artifacts from our uneasy alliance with the Martian race, or simply delight in the vibrant colors and illustrations from a bygone age. More than 100 full-color images and insightful essays make this book an essential addition to the libraries of dedicated historians as well as casual fans of monsters and mayhem.

The Holocaust Averted

The Holocaust Averted
Author: Jeffrey S. Gurock
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2015-04-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0813572401

In The Holocaust Averted, Jeffrey Gurock imagines what might have happened to the Jewish community in the United States if the Holocaust had never occurred and forces readers to contemplate how the road to acceptance and empowerment for today’s American Jews could have been harder than it actually was.

If the South Had Won the Civil War

If the South Had Won the Civil War
Author: MacKinlay Kantor
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 99
Release: 2001-11-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1466841613

Just a touch here and a tweak there . . . . MacKinlay Kantor, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, master storyteller, shows us how the South could have won the Civil War, how two small shifts in history (as we know it) in the summer of 1863 could have turned the tide for the Confederacy. What would have happened: to the Union, to Abraham Lincoln, to the people of the North and South, to the world? If the South Had Won the Civil War originally appeared in Look Magazine nearly half a century ago. It immediately inspired a deluge of letters and telegrams from astonished readers and became an American classic overnight. Published in book form soon after, Kantor's masterpiece has been unavailable for a decade. Now, this much requested classic is once again available for a new generation of readers and features a stunning cover by acclaimed Civil War artist Don Troiani, a new introduction by award-winning alternate history author Harry Turtledove, and fifteen superb illustrations by the incomparable Dan Nance. It all begins on that fateful afternoon of Tuesday, May 12, 1863, when a deplorable equestrian accident claims the life of General Ulysses S. Grant . . . . At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

What If

What If
Author: Cole Roberts
Publisher: WestBow Press
Total Pages: 90
Release: 2015-11-24
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1512720585

What if Christianity is simple? When Jesus gave his first public address, he said, I have come to fulfill the law and the prophets and to set the captives free. When a contract is fulfilled, it is completed and is no longer in effect. Religion is a form of bondage that enslaves its adherents to a set of rules that constitute sin. It portrays the image of a God who acts as a judge. In one hand he has a legal pad and pen and in the other a club. When sufficient sins have been committed, the club is used on the sinner. Jesus died on the cross to fulfill the need for justice and came to earth to show that God is not the ogre with a club but a loving father with outstretched arms wanting to hug his children He sent to us the Holy Spirit so we might have the heart and mind of Christ and be empowered to live a life free from the bondage of sin and religion. This book shows the reader how to do that and points out the stumbling blocks that may interfere. It enables the reader to see the simplicity of Christianity and understand why it should surpass religion in our lives.

A People's History of the United States

A People's History of the United States
Author: Howard Zinn
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 764
Release: 2003-02-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780060528423

Since its original landmark publication in 1980, A People's History of the United States has been chronicling American history from the bottom up, throwing out the official version of history taught in schools -- with its emphasis on great men in high places -- to focus on the street, the home, and the, workplace. Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, A People's History is the only volume to tell America's story from the point of view of -- and in the words of -- America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, the working poor, and immigrant laborers. As historian Howard Zinn shows, many of our country's greatest battles -- the fights for a fair wage, an eight-hour workday, child-labor laws, health and safety standards, universal suffrage, women's rights, racial equality -- were carried out at the grassroots level, against bloody resistance. Covering Christopher Columbus's arrival through President Clinton's first term, A People's History of the United States, which was nominated for the American Book Award in 1981, features insightful analysis of the most important events in our history. Revised, updated, and featuring a new after, word by the author, this special twentieth anniversary edition continues Zinn's important contribution to a complete and balanced understanding of American history.

Disaster at Stalingrad

Disaster at Stalingrad
Author: Peter Tsouras
Publisher: Grub Street Publishers
Total Pages: 438
Release: 2013-03-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 1783469463

A fascinating “what if” history of one of World War II’s most iconic battles. It is early September 1942 and the German commander of the Sixth Army, General Paulus, assisted by the Fourth Panzer Army, is poised to advance on the Russian city of Stalingrad. His primary mission was to take the city, crushing this crucial center of communication and manufacturing, and to secure the valuable oil fields in the Caucasus. What happens next is well known to any student of modern history: a brutal war of attrition, characterized by fierce hand-to-hand combat, that lasted for nearly two years, and the eventual victory by a resolute Soviet Red Army. A ravaged German Army was pushed into full retreat. This was the first defeat of Hitler’s territorial ambitions in Europe and a critical turning point of World War II. But the outcome could have been very different, as Peter Tsouras demonstrates in this fascinating alternate history of this fateful battle. By introducing minor—and realistic— adjustments, Tsouras presents a scenario in which the course of the battle runs quite differently, which in turn throws up disturbing possibilities regarding the outcome of the whole war.

For Want of a Nail

For Want of a Nail
Author: Robert Sobel
Publisher: Greenhill Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2002
Genre: Burgoyne's Invasion, 1777
ISBN: 9781853675041

For Want of a Nail is an alternate history classic. The outcome of one battle in the American Revolution diverges from reality, and sparks an unstoppable chain of events which affects the history of the whole North American continent. In reality, the British general John Burgoyne, heavily outnumbered by American troops, surrendered his army to General Horatio Gates at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, a major turning-point of the Revolution. Robert Sobel takes a step sideways and presents the alternative version: reinforcements arrive at Saratoga, Gates' men flee, and Burgoyne is victorious. Rather than openly allying itself with the American rebels, France withdraws its support, as does Spain, and the colonies surrender. Those former rebels who refuse to live in the Confederation of North America established by the British leave their homes and settle in what becomes the United States of Mexico. From then on the two continental nations find themselves constant rivals, locked in military, political and economic conflict. Sobel provides a detailed, intricately documented insight into two warring powers that develop in such dramatically different ways from their shared origins.

Rodham

Rodham
Author: Curtis Sittenfeld
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Total Pages: 465
Release: 2021-06-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0399590935

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of American Wife and Eligible . . . He proposed. She said no. And it changed her life forever. “A deviously clever what if.”—O: The Oprah Magazine “Immersive, escapist.”—Good Morning America “Ingenious.”—The New York Times NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New Yorker • NPR • The Washington Post • Marie Claire • Cosmopolitan (UK) • Town & Country • New York Post In 1971, Hillary Rodham is a young woman full of promise: Life magazine has covered her Wellesley commencement speech, she’s attending Yale Law School, and she’s on the forefront of student activism and the women’s rights movement. And then she meets Bill Clinton. A handsome, charismatic southerner and fellow law student, Bill is already planning his political career. In each other, the two find a profound intellectual, emotional, and physical connection that neither has previously experienced. In the real world, Hillary followed Bill back to Arkansas, and he proposed several times; although she said no more than once, as we all know, she eventually accepted and became Hillary Clinton. But in Curtis Sittenfeld’s powerfully imagined tour-de-force of fiction, Hillary takes a different road. Feeling doubt about the prospective marriage, she endures their devastating breakup and leaves Arkansas. Over the next four decades, she blazes her own trail—one that unfolds in public as well as in private, that involves crossing paths again (and again) with Bill Clinton, that raises questions about the tradeoffs all of us must make in building a life. Brilliantly weaving a riveting fictional tale into actual historical events, Curtis Sittenfeld delivers an uncannily astute and witty story for our times. In exploring the loneliness, moral ambivalence, and iron determination that characterize the quest for political power, as well as both the exhilaration and painful compromises demanded of female ambition in a world still run mostly by men, Rodham is a singular and unforgettable novel.

The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History

The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History
Author: Jack Dann
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 185
Release: 2023-07-13
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1350351385

A comprehensive guide to the speculative sub-genre of alternate history fiction, this book maps the unique terrain of this vibrant mode of storytelling and then explains how to write it. First giving a concise conceptual overview and the critical tools to differentiate the different forms of counterfactual fiction, Jack Dann lays out the 'tricks of the trade' such 'Heinleining', how to create recognizable 'divergent points' and how to employ paratextual elements and 'layering' to overcome readers' unfamiliarity with invented counterfactual events and cultures. Alongside this, Dann takes you step-by-step through a complete short story to demonstrate, line-by-line, how alternative history fiction works. As well as Dann's exacting methodology for writing professional quality alternate history stories, this book also features a live-on-the-page Q&A with some of the most esteemed alternate history writers working today, including Kim Stanley Robinson, John Birmingham and Lisa Goldstein among many others, who will detail their own particular hacks, theories, processes, methods and strategies. Combining extensive and deep knowledge of the field with accessible writing advice, this is the ultimate guidebook to the broad and complex sub-genre of counterfactual and alterative history fiction.