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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Engrossing and unusual, October 9, 2001
This review is from: Alternate Presidents (Alternate Anthologies) (Mass Market Paperback)
"Alternate Presidents" is part of Mike Resnick's series of alternate history anthologies, which also includes "Alternate Warriors" and "Alternate Kennedies." On the whole, this anthology has less of a tendency to lapse from "true" alternate history into sheer fantasy than some of the other volumes. It does do this on occasion -- e.g., Robert Sheckley's hilarious vignette about President Dukakis being taken by a mysterious secret service agent to meet our true, behind-the-scenes alien overlords in a bunker in New Mexico, or Laura Resnick's story in which a woman was elected president in 1872 (a comparably unlikely scenario, in my humble opinion). However, by and large, these stories are genuine alternate history, which make you think about the forces at work in peoples' minds and hearts at various eras in our past, and how these forces could have played out if certain changes had occurred. A couple of my favorite tales include Lawrence Watt-Evans' "Truth, Justice, and the American Way," about a horrifyingly right-wing world in which FDR never took the helm of America; "Fellow Americans" by Eileen Gunn, in which Goldwater won in 1964, and ended up using "small-scale" tactical nuclear weapons in Vietnam, and in which, for comic relief, Nixon mellowed out in the 60s to the point where he morphed into a hot-tubbing, LSD-experimenting, wildly successful comedic game show host in the 90s. I think this volume is a really great idea. Most of the stories in it do have the effect of compelling the reader to hit the books, and learn more about the background of each tale. You just want to feel like you really "get" the context of each story. If you are a history teacher, or know one, I'd like to suggest this volume as a fantastic teaching tool! It makes history entertaining, by forcing the reader to really think about the cause and effect of events, and to try to extrapolate (that magic word behind all good science fiction -- extrapolate) plausible outcomes of certain scenarios. For example, I remember hearing about a survey that indicated that something like 15% or 20% of graduating American high school seniors were not sure who won the Civil War, or even who the combatants were. If those kids were exposed to fantastic tales like these, I guarantee that this would not be the case... Even if you just made a handout out of one or two of these stories, the students would really benefit from the discussions you could have. So much of science fiction, or "speculative fiction," as this should perhaps be called, takes place in the future. This volume, and the whole sub-genre of alternate history, shows that it can be perhaps even more educational, and at least as interesting, (albeit without the additional value of getting readers to think about things that really might happen someday) to set this kind of tale in the past. My only reason for not giving this book 5 stars is that some of the stories, as I mentioned, are a little too much like fantasy, and not realistic enough. Most of these stories are great, however. Worth finding a copy.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The One AH You Must Read, August 24, 2001
This review is from: Alternate Presidents (Alternate Anthologies) (Mass Market Paperback)
I discovered this book by accident just after the 1992 election, and I have been hooked on the alternate history genre ever since. It is obviously a book for those who know American history and politics, but any political junkie will love it. The breadth of the book is astounding, even replacing such forgettable figures as Millard Fillmore and James Garfield to great effect. Some of the stories are fantastical -- protest candidates like Belva Ann Lockwood and Victoria Woodhull winning the White House pre-suffrage, and the bizarre world post-President Goldwater -- but most stay true to possibilities, like an unslain Huey Long winning the presidency in Depression-scarred 1936, or Mayor Daley casting his lot with Nixon over JFK in 1960. If you can find it, buy it.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Anthology with a Few Bad Eggs, April 20, 2006
This review is from: Alternate Presidents (Alternate Anthologies) (Mass Market Paperback)
I learned so much of history from this book. I enjoy American history, and this anthology embraces history with an engaging twist. So many of the stories are excellent in all ways: character development, plot twists, plot development, and historical reality. Just as the best of science fiction changes only one segment of reality and then sees what will happen, the best of alternative history changes only one event in history, and sees what would have happened. This is what these stories do.
Sadly, something begins to happen around 1960. A great positive to this book is that all of the chapters are in historical order, looking at the changes a different president might have made in the march through history. Around 1960 however, the writing starts to seriously decline. It becomes slipshod, boring, and difficult to follow. The final story of Dukakis meeting aliens is simply inane, and has no place in an authentic alternative history anthology. And the chapter dealing with Ford's treatment of the Iranian Hostage Crisis is extremely racist with sterotypical portraits of Muslims and Iranians.
And yet, in the balance, with 28 different possible presidents, the anthology merits a 4.25, as most of the early stories are so excellently done, and worth the reading. Great men and women *can* make a difference in history. Sometimes it's a great shift in events, and sometimes simply a new colouring on events that were predestined in a thousand multiverses. This book can help us explore the varied meanings of our choices.
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