What Might Have Been: Leading Historians on Twelve "What Ifs" of History

by Andrew Roberts

Book Overview

A dozen star historians on what might have happened at history's turning points if the dice had fallen differently.'Stimulating, provocative and playful' Literary Review Throughout history, great and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0297848771
• ISBN13: 9780297848776
• Release Date: April 2004
• Publisher: George Weidenfeld & Nicholson
• Length: 188 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.9" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

"God may not play at dice Himself, but at least He permits us to"

This was an intriguing purchase for me. I've been indulging in my passion for alternative histories and after reading _Bring The Jubilee_ by Ward Moore and _Almost America: A "What If" history of the U.S._ by Steve Talley, I decided to purchase this book. Andrew Roberts begins with a decent introduction to the concept of "counterfactual history", to use the academic term, along with examples appearing in print and film. The illustration on the cover refers to a scenario in his introduction, but doesn't have an accompanying chapter in the book. Roberts writes with a pleasant, engaging tone and is very knowledgeable, as are the other contributors to this collection. Sometimes the chapters can be somewhat dry, but they all spur the imagination. As this book was originally published in Great Britain, and many of the contributors British, several essays focus on noteworthy turning-points in English history and current affairs: the attack of the Spain Armada against the English Navy; The Gunpowder Plot; The English Civil War; and The Brighton Bombing assassination attempt against Margaret Thatcher. The writing also contains some British English spellings and grammar, which, for me, added to the enjoyable atmosphere of the anthology. The collection contains quite a range of historical events, from the 17th century to the early 21st. The authors have a scholarly knowledge of the people, places and incidents involved in the periods they write about; this can make the essays more burdensome if you're not as well-schooled on that particular subject, but most include a comparison of their imagined efforts to the actual events, and no one chapter is that long (about 13-14 pages on average by rough estimate). Preceding the introduction are contributor notes, so you can examine the bona fides of an author if you found favor or took exception to his or her piece. Overall, _What Might Have Been_ is an interesting contribution to counterfactual historical books, though it appears targeted more towards specialists in history than the general audience.

Riveting

I ask myself questions like this all the time. While the specific scenarios detailed might be a little overplayed, I could not put this book down. Highly recommended.

"That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history ,is the most important lesson that hist

There are several similar books on Alternate History,and this is as good as any of them. Many of them cover the same event and write an alternate version to what happened.The Editor suggests that the first rule for "What If " history-writing should be to keep it as believable as possible;and that we can untune one string,but not the whole violin. One of the most popular events that writers like to redo is "What if the South had Won the Civil War?" But not in this case. Here we get; The Spanish Armada Lands in England. The Gunpowder Plot Succeeds King Charles I Wins the English Civil War. Bebedict Arnold Wins the Revolutionary War for Britain. Napoleon Triumphs in Russia. The TRENT Incident Leads to War. Archduke Franz Ferdinand Survives Sarajevo. Lenin is Assassinated at the Finland Station. Stalin Flees Moscow in 1941. The Japanese Do not Attack Pearl Harbor. The Brighton Bomb Kills Margaret Thatcher. The Chads Fall Off in Florida. Throughout history ,unsuspected thigs have happened and changed the course of events,particularly military battles. Napoleon understood this and once made this very appropriate remark;"Woe to the General who goes into battle with a preconceived plan". I've often wondered if he said this before or after he decided to invade Russia. The one "What If",I enjoyed most was that written by Conrad Black;"The Japanese Do Not Attack Pearl Harbor". (Yes, this is the same Conrad Black who is prominent in the news today with financial problems.) He gives a good insight into both why Hitler decided to invade Russia and why ToJo attacked Pearl Harbor. In all the "What Ifs",the authors give a short summary of the lead-up to the event and then lets history unfold in a different direction. Overall,a good interesting collection of suppositions.

What If? Questions we've all asked

I always wondere what the world would be like if one piece of history had gone another way instead of what actually happened. This book covers many points in history and re-tells them as historical fact... its an interesting read but I would recommend knowing some of and reading up on the real facts in history prior to reading this so that the 'What If' would have a bigger impact. I would have liked to have read an essay on what may have happened if the Nazis had won WW2 but I guess that's covered in many other books. I look forward to reading more.. overall its a great read and I'd recommend it for history buffs and for those who wonder.. "What if.."