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The Collected What If? Eminent Historians Imagine What Might Have Been

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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!

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.

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.

This book is wonderful for people like myself who would like to grasp an understanding of important milestones. The book describes events historically and then explains a possible scenario or two "if" things didnt happen that exact way. Some essays are better than others as some can be a little confusing. Sometimes you do not know if they are talking about a "What if" scenario or true historical events however, all in all this is a great book and I high recommend it!

We are living in an alternate history...

Think about it: What is the likelihood that thirteen colonies could have defeated the mightiest military power at the zenith of its power? Or what is the likelihood that we would've elected as sixteenth President a man who'd never even held a statewide elective office and even lost when he sought his parties' vice presidential nomination? (That's right. In fact, Abraham Lincoln even lost his bid for a senate seat in 1858 against the same opponent he would face in the 1860 presidential election.)

Take away independence or Abraham Lincoln and the past two hundred years change dramatically.

That's the point of this book that envisions a past without Alexander the Great or the Greeks victorious over the Persians or even Christ convicted. It's the point that what has happened only now seems inevitable by dint of hindsight.

But even on the verge of great events, even the central players themselves weren't so certain. For his part Gen. Dwight Eisenhower had already prepared a statement taking full responsibility for the invasion of Normandy. Prior to that, in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson, had drafted emergency plans to enable his Republican opponent Charles Evans Hughes to take office immediately after what Wilson thought would be an election victory for Hughes.

Admittedly the essays in this book are of varying quality. In my opinion the writers more willing to go out on a limb so to speak did a better service by making more far reaching predictions about the historical events they purported to change. I also liked the events that we don't commonly think of like if Henry Agard Wallace had become president after Franklin Roosevelt's death instead of Harry Truman.

Don't recognize the name Henry Agard Wallace? You're not alone. But back in the 40s this guy was on fire. As Agriculture Secretary he'd personally figured out a way to increase farming productivity. As Vice President he was given more authority by his then boss then arguably any other predecessor in his job.

In fact in 1944, he was way ahead in public opinion polls, he already had half the delegates he needed to win and he even had Franklin Roosevelt's personal endorsement.

The problem? In 1944 Wallace had been to the Soviet Union and like many politician's after him he was given a special tour of the county that showcased its strengths and purposefully hid its weaknesses (like its 20 million strong gulags). Not one for critical thinking Wallace came back to the United States a bonafide Russo-phile, much to the chagrin of more reasoned elements in the Democratic party.

After much pressure, Roosevelt softened his support for Wallace and Truman got the 1944 vice presidential nod (albeit only after the second ballot...on the first he trailed Wallace).

In other words, with Wallace instead of Truman we would have had a very different post World War II world. Maybe the cold war would have started later or maybe even not at all...all because of a guy whose name is hardly a household word.

But that's history for you. One day, you can have an ex marine, a ne'er do well who can't even get a job close to his wife and another day that same guy can take an Itallian rifle and use it to kill the president. A nudge one way or the other and the name Lee Harvey Oswald might not even have been a trivia question.

As seen in this book, the difference between the historical and the what if only seems inevitable in retrospect.

A great read for anyone in to history of any kind. Its a little pricey but its worth its wheight in gold.

The counterfactual treatments of 45 turning points in history presented in this volume are often ominous and always interesting. I found this to be a thoroughly enjoyable and informative read that made me wonder why counterfactual literature was never used when I was taking history classes. The factual account is presented in each case, which is instructive by itself, but the "what if" part teaches even more about the dynamic complexity of military conflicts, politics, and other human behaviors that shaped the way things turned out. Even seasoned history buffs will find some eye-opening stories here.
If there's any disadvantage to the book, it's the bulk of its 827 pages. Because of its size and weight, it didn't go with me on travel or on my daily commute. As a result, I read a chapter whenever I had a chance in between all the other things demanding attention on my reading table, so it took over a year and a half to get through the book. It's an ideal candidate for the Kindle, so readers on the move won't be discouraged from diving into this excellent collection.

NOT YET AN AFFICIANDO OF REVISIONIST HISTORY....WELL..THIS IS THE BOOK TO OPEN; AND YOU WONT WANT TO PUT IT DOWN...A WINDOW INTO THE TURNING POINTS THAT BROUGHT US TO WHERE WE ARE.....AND WHERE WE COULD HAVE BEEN IF NOT FOR A RAINY DAY, A STRAY BULLET ETC...

Easy company to work with. Book came excatly as described. I am extremely pleased.