ALTERNATE HEROES (What Might Have Been) [Mass Market Paperback]

Gregory Benford (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Spectra; First Thus edition (December 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553282794
• ISBN-13: 978-0553282795
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,740,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Time and Again, March 17, 2002

By 

Jedidiah Palosaari "Not My Real Name" (Fes, Morocco) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: ALTERNATE HEROES (What Might Have Been) (Mass Market Paperback)

After reading this kind of work I find myself constantly thinking of how things might play out with even different day-to-day actions. The stories engrain your thoughts. But this was not quite as good of a book as the first volume, as many of the stories were substandard, although there are a few very good ones and therefore the book as a whole is worth recommending.

A Sleep and a Forgetting has a surprise twist, as many of alterative reality stories do, and is about an instrument that allows people to talk with historical figures through the electromagnetic waves of the sun. In this a major butcher accepts Christ. It is fairly well wrought.

Old Man and C is if Einstein had decided to pick up the violin instead, and is just not well written- you don't get the sense of history changing because of his decision. Mules in Horses' Harness is also poorly written- it takes place in the South, with the North having won, but the South is independent- and you never learn how this is possible! And Lenin in Odessa operates with the idea of Lenin having been killed- but it seems to result in the same history we have today, and there is no gripping writing.

*The* great question is presented in The Last Article- how would Gandhi's tactics apply to the Nazis? The Nazis take over India because America never entered WWII. It is quite well written, but unfortunately Harry Turtledove, the author, has not read enough of nonviolent history and practices. Violent response only works half the time, historically. Someone always loses. Nonviolent action, when applied, is statistically much more successful. *And* the only time Hitler was stopped in WWII, other than the final putsch by the Allies, was when nonviolent action was practiced. In Denmark, when the Jews were forced to wear a yellow star, the King also joined them, and his subjects all followed his lead. Even the Nazis were unwilling to kill an entire nation of white Northern Gentiles, and so the Jews were not wiped out from Denmark, as the Nazis couldn't tell the difference between them and Gentiles. Unfortunately, Turtledove's ending doesn't conform to likely historical reality, and is only a slim possibility.

Abe Lincoln at McDonald's is the first really excellent story in this compendium. What if Lincoln had signed the treaty had signed the Seward Treaty for peace with the South and slavery had expanded throughout the Territories and eventually became acceptable in the North as well? It is a very tragic reality, with modern times interposed completely with slavery, and horrible thoughts like a "Super Slaver" where you can buy 10 month old just-weaned slaves for your little girl.

After reading Barry Malzberg's Another G-dd--ned Showboat, I've realized, upon contemplating his previous work, that he's simply just a bad writer. His stories make no sense- they really *do* sound like they came from a chapter in a larger work, as another reviewer said. What if Hemmingway had become a Science Fiction writer?

But Loose Cannon was another of those stories that makes this genre so wonderful. What if Sir Lawrence had *not* died that tragic day on a motorcycle (see the beginning of Lawrence of Arabia) and had been available to meet that other great European general of the desert, Rommel? Susan Schwartz very effectively captures the character of Lawrence.

A Letter From the Pope was well done- what if the almost-last King of the Britons, Alfred, had decided to embrace a multi-religious state instead of encouraging the conquered Vikings to become Christian?

It was nice to finally see some alternate realities that considered the Muslims. Roncesvalles is such a story, where Charlemagne considers between his native Aryanist-paganism, joining the Muslim empire, and joining Byzantium's Orthodoxy. It was fairly well written, but had some historical problems- it is unlikely that the Muslims would have differentiated enough between Orthodoxy and Aryanism, for instance, to see the latter as pagan worship.

His Powder'd Wig, His Crown of Thornes was well written, with a neat idea- what if the Native Americans had joined the British and Benedict Arnold had succeeded in betraying George Washington? And so you have Arnoldsburg, District of Cornwallis. Marc Laidlaw works very well with the ideas of hagiography and martyrdom as applied to Washington- but in the end the descriptions are simply so disgusting it turned me off to the entire story. Some images in there you do *not* want to read.

Instability is if the H-Bomb had not been developed. It is confusing and vulgar. No Spot of Ground concerns if Edgar Allen Poe had become a General in the Confederate War. It tends to drag out quite a bit, without historical divergences of significance, but has some good thoughts on how Poe might have acted within a military situation.

For me, however, the greatest story was Departures, again by the master author, Turtledove. It is a historical contingency I have often considered writing a novel on myself, though certainly with very different approaches. It considers a merchant turned monk who has flashes of divine inspiration in the composing of hymns to God. His monastery needs to prepare for the coming attack by the Persians. There is no Muslim Empire in this alternate reality.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mind Boggling!, April 6, 2002

By 

"ace3k69" (Edgemoor, SC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ALTERNATE HEROES (What Might Have Been) (Mass Market Paperback)

I truly enjoy this series-it's quick,well done (yes,being various authors there is good and bad,but the good outweighs the bad)and doesn't go into EVERY nuance that lead to divergent paths.I've read other alternate history short story books,but none as well done as this 4 book set.If you enjoy this idea-I can't recommend it enough-it really makes you think how the planet would be different if a decision or event went the other direction.For myself-I love it.Sorry,there are too many stories to delve into and dissect-if curious-BUY IT.
Teaser-Genghis Khan leading the crusades.If that doesn't jump start the imagination-I don't know what will.