What if? What if the atomic bomb was never dropped on Nagasaki? What if McGovern beat Nixon in the 1972 US Presidential election? What if Hitler was victorious in World War II?

It’s hard to imagine how life as we know it would be if history as we know it was different. Or is it? I recently found this topic little easier to comprehend when a colleague gave me a copy of The Best Alternative History Stories Of The 20th Century.

At over 400 pages, this book has 14 individual stories that fall into the genre called “alternative history.” For those not familiar with this genre, the stories are based on an event or period of time in history that is reimagined with a different outcome. The result is a collection of tales of what could have been different, making you think even more as you turn the pages of this assortment of fiction. Not only was I thinking about alternative outcomes as I read this book, a few takeaways leapt from its pages as well.

I didn’t know this genre existed before this book – Where I have repeated here on the posts of this humble blog that I am no prolific reader, I certainly backed up that statement when it came to alternative history. I had never heard of the genre before I read the book. That helped me get to the several hundred pages as I was intrigued at what would be the “best” of stories.

No two stories were the same – As each tale of an alternative outcome were written by different authors, the stories were as unique as the individuals. Some were short, some were long. Some were painstakingly detailed, others glossed over minutiae in exchange for plot and character development. Some were about a specific event itself and others were related to activities as the result of an alternative history. In the end I mostly appreciated the variety of styles as much as their topics.

I never finished 2 of the stories – Two of the stories were very hard to follow and I decided after several pages to skip them. One was about a period of time I didn’t quite understand when it was and the story was difficult to follow. Another had a very complex style that made it hard for me to read. Where I have read every page of every book I’ve written about, this is the first time I did a fast-forward on a few.

The Best Alternative History Stories Of The 20th Century was unique in how it made me think at different levels, and is a book I highly recommend. When I make more room in my bookshelf I will certainly consider adding alternative history stories to it. As I pass along all books I read, this is going to one of my favorite cousins, both for her enjoyment and to help atone for missing her recent birthday.

This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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