History Revisited The Great Battles, Eminent Historians Take on the Great Works of Alternative History

by Markham, J. David; Resnick, Mike

• ISBN13: 9781933771106
• ISBN10: 1933771100
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-02-09
• Publisher: Benbella Books

Summary

This anthology collects seven of the top stories in the alternate military-history genre by writers Harry Turtledove, Kim Stanley Robinson, John Mina, William Saunders, Michael F. Flynn, and editor Mike Resnick and submits them to scrutiny by seven eminent historians to find out just how probable the events they describe really are. Addressing pivotal historical eventsincluding the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan, the Battle of New Orleans, radical politics and Southern strategy in the mid-20th century, the Napoleonic wars, Alcibiades's sack of Syracuse, the American Civil War, and Kenya's fight for independence from Britainthis book seeks to find out how different circumstances could have affected world history. Historians present intriguing questions about these events, such asCould our atomic bomb policy really have been changed by one faulty screw? What if Napoleon had become emperor of the United States, leading such heroes as Crockett and Houston in the Battle of New Orleans? Would Admiral Nelson's defection to France really have altered the course of the Napoleonic wars? Would President Lincoln's assassination during the Gettysburg Address have left the Confederacy as a separate country?From one end of the historical spectrum to the other, this book looks at what didn't happen in military history to gain a richer understanding of all that did.

Author Biography

J. David Markham is an internationally acclaimed historian, Napoleonic scholar, and award-winning author. He has taught history and other subjects at the university, college, and high school levels and has received numerous teaching awards and recognitions. He lives in Olympia, Washington. Mike Resnick is a four-time Hugo Award–winner and the author of 45 science fiction novels, as well as numerous books of nonfiction, anthologies, short stories, and screenplays. He lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Table of Contents

Introductions
Introduction	p. 1
Southern Strategy	p. 7
The Past is a Different Place	p. 45
Racial Clearings	p. 51
Empire	p. 65
The Unlikely Empire	p. 89
The Lucky Strike	p. 101
Exceptionalism, the Atomic Bomb, and U.S.-Japanese Relations	p. 139
The Daimon	p. 151
Alcibiades, Syracuse, and "What Next"	p. 209
Must and Shall	p. 225
Do Not Embrace them too Hastily	p. 257
Vive L'Amiral	p. 269
"Vive L'Amiral"	p. 291
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