For anyone who enjoys reading history, the "what ifs" of
history can be just as interesting as what actually happened. What would have
happened if the other side had won the battle, or the other party had won the
election, or this significant person had died at the
wrong moment? Historians have contributed to these speculations, including several collections of essays in the
What If? series edited by Robert Cowley. Among the scenarios
explored here are what if American had lost the Revolution and what if JFK had lived?
But historians can’t really compete with the imaginations of
fiction writers who have created the popular genre of
alternate history, found
somewhere on the borders of science fiction and fantasy. Alternate histories
are almost always
dystopian, perhaps because it’s a lot more fun to write about
dystopias rather than utopias. Where’s the conflict and possibilities for plot
if everyone is happy, holding hands, and singing kumbaya? So when authors look
to history for inspiration, they look for pivotal moments when everything could
have gone wrong.
No wonder then that Hitler winning World War II is
frequently the starting point for novels of alternate history. Classics of this subgenre include Philip K. Dick’s
The Man in the High Castle (recently made into a
TV series) and
Fatherland by Robert Harris. Another key
moment is the
Spanish Armada in 1588.
Harry Turtledove, indefatigable author of
dozens of alternate history books with themes as diverse as the South winning the
Civil War and the Soviet Union winning the Cold War, goes Elizabethan in
Ruled Britannia. The Spanish Armada is
victorious and the English resistance movement tasks William Shakespeare with
writing a play to foment rebellion.
The most persuasive alternate history novels rest on some
kernel of fact, making them more plausible, and more terrifying. This
could so easily have happened, we think.
The actual historical existence of a group of
aristocratic British fascists
makes Jo Walton’s brilliant
Small Change trilogy
all the more powerful.
Farthing
starts out as seemingly a traditional English country house murder mystery, but
with one chilling difference. A Star of David is pinned to the victim’s body. In this alternate 1940’s England, a group of fascist sympathizers known as the Farthing Set gain control of the government and make peace with Hitler. England becomes a fascist state of identity cards, expulsion of foreigners, and persecution of Jews and gays. The two other novels in the series,
Ha’Penny and
Half a Crown, follow the rise of an underground resistance
movement.
Philip Roth’s novel
The Plot Against America rests on the historical fact of
Charles Lindbergh’s fascist sympathies and involvement with the
America First movement. In Roth’s
alternate America Lindbergh runs against Franklin Roosevelt in the 1940
presidential election. His star status as an aviation hero and sympathy over
the kidnapping and murder of his son make him a compelling candidate. He
successfully whips up isolationist fears and wins. Roth uses the actual text of
Lindbergh’s speech in which he accused the British and the Jews of conspiring
to force America into war. The Lindbergh administration makes peace with Hitler
and enacts laws limiting freedom of religion, which eventually lead to pogroms.
Told from the perspective of an ordinary Jewish family living in New Jersey, the
novel is a chilling and all too plausible portrait of an America that might
have been.
For more alternate history reading suggestions check out these
lists:
A list of over 3,300 novels, stories, and essays
Rita T.
Labels: Books, History, Reading
