The Collected What If? Eminent Historians Imagine What Might Have Been [Hardcover]

Stephen E. Ambrose (Author), Caleb Carr (Author), David McCullough (Author), John Lukas (Author), John Keegan (Author), James Bradley (Author), Cecelia Holland (Author), Alistair Horne (Author), William H. McNeill (Author), Robert Cowley (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0399152385 | ISBN-13: 978-0399152382 | Publication Date: June 2006 | Edition: First edition.

Like new hardcover with dust jacket

Product Details

• Hardcover: 827 pages
• Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons; First edition. edition (June 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399152385
• ISBN-13: 978-0399152382
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 2.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #204,854 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #30 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > General

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Coffee Book - Excellent Read, March 23, 2010

By 

The Pes "Deerhoads" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Collected What If? Eminent Historians Imagine What Might Have Been (Hardcover)

Most of the time, "what if?" stories propose absurd scenarios that throw plausibility out the window, and mire the reader with speculative dribble.

This What If? book is nothing of the sort. In fact, this book will be more rewarding in the end than any hypothetical sci-fi story that you'll find in the nerd isles of bookstores.

What's great about this book is that it focuses on two main threads of time: The Actual, and the Counter-factual. In frank and easy narrative, the authors of these essays give you the facts of a particular battle, or event in time and then twist that fateful day in the opposite direction, giving you a disastrous (or beneficial) outcome. It really proposes incredible changes of the present if said past events changed as easily as the turning of a leaf in the wind.

Every (hi)story, is described in detail and the counter-factual then taken into consideration displaying the growing changes of a different future, changing the course of history into imaginable scenarios that completely reverse our present.

It's a fascinating read, to say the least and one that you'd be hard pressed to put down. Not every essay is a flawless narration, but for the most part all of them have something interesting to say.

You can't go wrong with this book, and at the prices listed here, it's an incredible return on investment. Not only that, you actually can learn something about our past. This is by far the best way to intake world history--a subject that sorely needs some jolts of interest.

Good purchase!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Perfect Book For Alternate History Buffs, April 25, 2008

By 

D. Mataconis (Bristow, Virginia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

The Collected What If ? is nothing less than a comprehensive look at some of the most important turning points in history. And, once you get started considering the possible ways in which history could have turned out drastically different, it's hard for the imagination not to start running wild.

With contributions from some of the best-known and most highly regarded historians, political writers, and military historians, there's almost nothing that the book doesn't touch on.

From the ancient world :

What if the Persian Empire had defeated the Athenians ? What if Alexander The Great had died before achieving greatness ? What if the Mongol hordes had run wild through Western Europe, as they certainly seemed ready to do before their Khan died ? What if Socrates had died during one of Athens' many wars ?

In each of these situations, it's striking to realize how even a minor change in events might have prevented what we know as Western Civilization from even existing.

In addition to these scenarios there is, of course, plenty of material on more modern crises, such as the entirely unfortunate and, it turns out, entirely avoidable, at least in the way it unfolded in our world, First World War. Even here though, there are small events that could have had major ramifications -- but for a few inches, Winston Churchill was nearly run down by a cab in New York City in the 1930s, for example.

If you're interested in history and the question of who things might have been, this is the collection to get.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars On the whole, a very engaging book, December 21, 2007

By 

Kaj G. Trapp (Kent, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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The Collective What If? is a combination of two previous books (of course, called "What If?" and "What If? 2"). These are themselves, a compilation of essays written by historians, each with a foreword from Robert Cowley, reviewing the "what ifs" of several pivotal moments in history. For the most part, historical battles, or campaigns.

As this is a compilation, the quality varies from essay to essay. All of the essays go into great detail regarding the actual history of each event, and how they were pivotal in how the world we know developed. But while many dive into some intriguing speculation as to what would have happened had the counter-factual event taken place (say, had the Confederates forced the Union to accept succession, or had Jesus been spared Crucification), others spend a short paragraph or less at the end of their essay on what really happened to say something along the lines of "had it worked out differently, things would have changed a lot." giving very short service to the whole "what if" theme of the book.

Still, as I mentioned previously, for the actual historical value alone, this book is perfect at identifying some of the key points in history that helped shape what the world is today, many of which I wasn't even aware of. So in that regard, this is well worth the read if you're looking to learn about several key events that have sent ripples through history.