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Archive-name: history/what-if
Last updated: 13 August 2003
Version: 4.43
Posting-Frequency: Monthly
Copyright: (c) 2003 Anthony Mayer


                      "Frequently" Asked Questions
                                   in
                           soc.history.what-if


This document is maintained (and copyright) by Anthony Mayer. Substa
portions are drawn from earlier versions copyright 1994-1997 by Robe
Schmunk and 1997-2002 by Craig Neumeier, and are used with permissio
may be freely distributed electronically provided that this copyrig
notice is  attached.


If you wish to make a suggestion for corrections or additions, pleas
e-mail the maintainer directly at aem3@doc.ic.ac.uk
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 0. Recent Changes

None

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                Table of Contents


    0. Recent Changes

    1. Introduction

    2. What is alternative history?

    3. Are there any rules about posting to soc.history.what-if?

    4. Are there any forbidden subjects?
       a. Ban on Politics

       b. Non-alternative-history Fiction
       c. Future History
       d. Secret History
       e. Historical "Revisionism"

    5. Are there any subjects which require special care?
       a. Clashing Patriotisms
       b. Recent Events
       c. WIs involving supernatural agencies

    6. What is a "double-blind what-if" and how should I respond?


    7. What does "... in the Sea of Time" mean?

    8. What are the Alien Space Bats?

    9. What does <abbreviation> mean?

   10. What are the most common what-ifs?

   11. What are some common historical errors I should avoid?


     a. Could Operation Sealion have succeeded?

     b. Could the American Indians have repelled the Europeans?

     c. Did the Chinese just use gunpowder for fireworks?

     d. Did Christianity destroy Greek science and the Roman Empire?

     e. Did the US come within one vote of adopting German as its
          official language?


   12. Are the posts to soc.history.what-if archived somewhere?

   13. Can anybody recommend a good book about alternative history?

   14. What alternative histories should I read?

   15.  Is there an (on-line) alternative history book list?

   16.  What are the Sidewise Awards?

   17.  Are there other alternative history discussion

   areas?

   18. Are there any alternative history web sites?

   19. Is there any record of newsgroup traffic in soc.history.what-


  + Minor modification to this entry
 ++ Significant modification to this entry
+++ New entry


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 1. Introduction

soc.history.what-if is a newsgroup for the discussion of history div
from that of our own. A very common example would be "What if the So
won the U.S. Civil War?"

The newsgroup was created in late May 1995, after the usual Usenet
discussion (RFD) and voting (CFV) periods. It assumes the role previ
filled by the newsgroup alt.history.what-if. The older newsgroup was

correspondingly scheduled for removal, and still sees some traffic,
although it is now considerably less active than soc.history.what-if
Please post *only* to soc.history.what-if in order to reach the wide
possible audience while eliminating the confusion which usually resu
from cross-posting.

The soc.history.what-if charter, as written by its proponent (Richar
Gadsden, now at richard@gadsden.name) after the discussion period en
is:

  The soc.history.what-if newsgroup will be open to discussion of

  alternate history. This is "what-ifs" regarding specific historica
  events.

  Specifically, but not exclusively:
  + Historical events - what could have happened if they had been
    different?
  + How could this have happened differently (i.e. discussion of how
    divergence could have occurred, not of what its consequences wou
    be.)

  Note: the following topics are not to be discussed:


  + Revisionism regarding the Holocaust or Turkish/Armenian massacre
    (post to alt.revisionism). "What if the Holocaust had not happen
    is a legitimate question.

  + Future history - "What if the President were assassinated tomorr

  + Alternate history in fictional worlds - "What if Luke had failed
    destroy the Death Star?"

Many Usenet FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions answer lists) usually b

with several paragraphs on netiquette, i.e., proper behaviour on pos
to newsgroups. Rather than do that here, I will just recommend that
have not already done so, you should *immediately* go to the newsgro
news.announce.newusers and read the posting entitled "A Primer on Ho
Work With the Usenet Community". After that, please read it again.

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 2. What is alternative history?

"Alternative history" essays/stories are the "what ifs" of history,
describing events that could have happened but did not. (The terms

"allohistory," "alternate history," "counterfactual" and "uchronia"
have advocates and nuanced meanings, but "alternative history" is th
generally accepted name, in English, for what we do on SHWI.) A typi
example is the question, "What if had Napoleon won at Waterloo?" Mos
alternatives concern human history, but there are some examples of
alternative natural history, making changes in geology or ecology.

You may find such questions asked in science fiction literature, war
magazines, and history and economics journals. However, it can also
occasionally found in such mainstream publications as Time magazine
Entertainment Weekly, and an occasional alternative history novel wi

crack the New York Times bestseller list and maybe even get made int
movie (e.g., Robert Harris' FATHERLAND).

In science fiction, alternative histories are a subset of parallel w
and alternative universe stories, in which some emphasis has been pu
an historical element. If those terms are meaningless to you, note t
parallel world may have no historical or physical similarity to our
common example is for someone in our world to be mysteriously transp
to a "magical" world. Alternative history fiction, on the other hand
requires that the world described be visibly the same as ours up to
specific point in history, after which things begin to get different


The boundaries are not firm: many alternative histories throw in mag
or, to put it another way, many "historical fantasy" novels, especia
recently, use AH trappings. Similarly, alternative histories often h
slightly different physical laws than our universe -- most commonly
allow time travel, since AH in science fiction began as an outgrowth
time-travel stories.

The distinction between alternative histories that are explorations
"what might have been", and those that utilise devices from science
fiction and fantasy is one that has caused tension on SHWI in the pa

Opinion is divided as to whether essays and fiction that involve mag
time-travel are really alternative history, or simply fantasies with
historical setting. A large proportion of SHWI users prefer to discu
only the stricter, purely historical forms of AH, and this should be
in mind when posting an article with a more fantastic setting. See
Question 5 for more on this discussion.

The stricter form of AH, in which divergences are the result of enti
plausible minor changes or individuals making different decisions,
reflects the use of AH in an academic sense.  Academic historians ha
tended to treat alternative histories, or "counter- factuals" with l

respect, although this has changed somewhat in recent years, (see Qu
13).

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 3. Are there any rules about posting to soc.history.what-if?

Since soc.history.what-if is an unmoderated newsgroup, there are no
enforceable rules. There is no official style guide. On the other ha
aspire to, and have often achieved, a high level of netiquette.

Please do not post binary files (images and the like). General Usene

rules restrict them to newsgroups with "binaries" in their title, to
conserve bandwidth on slower servers. Commercial advertisements are
strictly forbidden.

The level of historical knowledge possessed by posters to this newsg
varies, and many new subscribers can feel intimidated by the level o
detail in some postings. Please don't let that prevent you from post
often, that detail is put in specifically to help people who don't k
much about a specific subject join the discussion.

Some hints to keep in mind:


a) When you ask a what-if question, it is a good idea to attempt to
   provide some (partial) answer of your own. Some posters consider
   rude to post a question alone, and all of us are *much* more like
   respond to suggested results than just bare points of divergence.

b) In advancing a timeline that might result from a historical
   divergence, don't be afraid to explain why you think certain thin
   would happen. It often helps to provide some historical backgroun
   rather than just stating that such-and-such would happen, followe
   a-later-event and then something-even-later.


c) If a major change is made to history, almost everything from that
   point on will be different. So before you ask what difference you
   change would make to the outcome of WWII, make sure that you coul
   reasonably expect there to *be* a WWII in the new timeline. (If y
   change the American Civil War, you can make a case for it. If you
   rid of Jesus Christ, forget it.)

d) Be prepared to defend your assertions; i.e., don't state somethin
   true without being able to provide evidence. Some "common knowled
   about the past is actually untrue (whether it be because of telev

   the blandness of grade school textbooks, or myth-makers such as P
   Weems), and posters to this newsgroup are more than willing to te
   so. (See also Question 11.)

e) On the other hand, it is not considered necessary to cite sources
   unless/until someone challenges you.  Preferred newsgroup practic
   to ask for the source of an interpretation you don't agree with r
   than immediately blasting it as wrong. (Errors of fact may be cor
   more directly.) Attacking someone else's level of knowledge is ru
   even if true, and will win you no friends.


f) Don't forget to say *why* something happens differently. For
   instance, someone might ask "What if World War I never happened?"
   perhaps seeking out opinions on how that might result in the non-
   of fascism and presumably no World War II. But an honest answer m
   also considering such important factors as the European arms race
   during the decades prior to World War I and imperial Germany's se
   for colonial territories, and how they would have to be altered s
   the war doesn't occur.

   It is perfectly acceptable to ask for help in getting the result
   want, e.g. if you know you want to keep Bismarck and still avoid


g) Really huge WI's, such as changes to human nature ("What if peopl
   had no aggressive instincts?") generally do not produce any usefu
   comments. They are too big to handle; there's not really much to
   apart from "everything would be different."

h) Please be aware of those subjects that are likely to cause offenc
   if not handled with care, and those subjects which are strictly
   forbidden  - see Question 5 for more on these points.

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 4. Are there any forbidden subjects?

Yes. The newsgroup charter (see question 1) rules some subjects out
bounds explicitly. These are really just special cases of the genera
restriction of the newsgroup to its proper topic, specified only bec
they had previously caused problems in alt.history.what-if or other
history newsgroups. In all cases, there is a more appropriate Usenet
for these subjects: this is a newsgroup for the discussion of altern
history.

 4.a. Ban on Politics


   Since real-life contemporary politics is neither historical nor
   alternative, arguments about it are off-topic here. This does not
   that all political discussion is forbidden -- your beliefs on pol
   naturally affect what you see as reasonable in an AH. It can also
   argued that all historical discussion will involve political disc
   at some level. But once a discussion becomes an argument about wh
   beliefs about politics are correct, it usually skirts, and often
   under, the Ban. In effect, the BoP is a call for posters to attem
   refrain from making extreme value judgements in the discussion, a
   try and retain some measure of objectivity.


   Since blatantly off-topic political flamewars have frequently
   disfigured the newsgroup in the past, a large set of posters will
   notice if you violate the BoP. Please try not to be offended if t
   happens to you: take it to e-mail (or, theoretically, to talk.pol
   if you wish to continue the discussion.

 4.b. Non-alternative-history Fiction

   The word "history" appears in the newsgroup name. Thus, questions
   "What if Luke Skywalker had not destroyed the Death Star?" which

   involve entirely fictional (non-alternative history) universes ar
   appropriate. There is certainly a better newsgroup for such quest
   (e.g. rec.arts.sf.starwars.misc, in the case of Luke and the Deat
   Star).

 4.c. Future History

   The newsgroup is for discussing history that has already happened
   Questions such as "What if George W. Bush were assassinated tomor
   have been asked and argued, and will probably continue to arise.
   again, there are more appropriate newsgroups for such discussion,

   probably alt.history.future (or, in some cases, a specialist grou
   as talk.politics.assassination), although propagation of a.h.f se
   be limited. You may need to specifically request it be carried at
   site; contact your newsmaster or newsadmin.

 4.d. Secret History

   "Secret history" involves the revelation that something that we t
   we know about the past is untrue. It is not alternative history:
   leaves history unchanged, and the present is certainly still the
   present. (Why what we know is untrue may vary, but in most secret

   history stories there's some sort of a conspiracy at work to hide
   truth from the masses.) A related side-issue is whether a purport
   non-fiction book (e.g., Baigent et al.'s HOLY BLOOD, HOLY GRAIL,
   of the Von Daniken books) can also be secret history. In any case
   purposes of the soc.history.what-if newsgroup, secret history is
   off-topic -- whether admittedly invented or supposedly non-fictio
   There are many newsgroups which might be the appropriate venue, s
   rec.arts.books or rec.arts.sf.written, another soc.history group,
   alt.conspiracy, or some specialized alt. group.

 4.e. Historical "Revisionism"


   Genuine revisionist history is a respectable intellectual underta
   but arguments *exclusively* concerned with real history belong on
   soc.history.moderated or some other group in the soc.history hier
   Denial of the facts of the Nazi Holocaust or the Turkish massacre
   Armenians (or any other examples of 20th- century genocide) is ne
   intellectually respectable nor on-topic for this group. The newsg
   created specifically to argue the point is alt.revisionism; such
   arguments are out of place here.

   Holocaust deniers have turned up on the newsgroup before, and no

   will again. Please do not get drawn into an argument which will j
   raise tempers and waste time and bandwidth: if you just can't bea
   to respond, post *once* and then stop. (Do not be fooled by their
   of posting under many fake usernames, either.) Take the argument
   private e-mail if you must continue it further, rather than conti
   to post to the newsgroup. Experience shows that ostracism is a mo
   effective tactic than argument for getting these people to leave.
   as far as anyone can tell, they have never converted any of our
   readers, so it is not necessary to be concerned about leaving the
   unanswered when deciding who should go in your killfile.


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 5. Are there any subjects which require special care?

Almost any topic can unexpectedly rouse tempers; the Ban on Politics
exists because of sad experience. However, even perfectly on-topic
discussions of alternative history can be inflammatory when contrary
beliefs, political or otherwise, are involved. The record in SHWI
indicates that the following subjects are particularly prone to caus
problems:

5.a Conflicting Patriotisms


 SHWI is an international newsgroup. Please bear this in mind when p
 on subjects that may easily arouse strong opinions. Courtesy toward
 other nationalities when touching on matters that may reflect deep
 values and patriotisms should be a matter of course. This is as tru
 historical issues as more contemporary concerns. For example, argum
 about who "really" won the War of 1812 will produce nothing but was
 bandwidth and bruised feelings. SHWI has also suffered from the Eur
 US argument on more than one occasion, and no one would like to see
 repeated. (Prodding touchy patriots on purpose is a type of troll.
 Don't.)


5.b WIs concerning very recent events

  Current affairs are not historical. Extremely recent events are of
  too fresh for genuine historical analysis, and posts discussing "w
  so-and-so (which occurred yesterday) had not happened?" are rarely
  valuable. While most posters will no doubt be interested in recent
  current affairs, there is often little that can be said on such a
  subject that does not involve contemporary politics or speculation
  the future. Thus posts on a very recent WI tend to stray off topic
  violating points 4.a and 4.c. above. While WIs concerning recent e

  are certainly on-topic, they should be handled with great care and
  an eye to not offending other posters.

5.c WIs involving supernatural agencies

   WIs that involve supernatural agencies or devices, such as time t
   and magic, are on the borders of the topic for this newsgroup. If
   such devices, be aware that many posters do not appreciate AH in
   form, and that the purpose of the group is discussion of the
   alternative history, not the discussion of the magical agency use
   aid in the creation of the alternative history.


   As a matter of courtesy it is preferable to make it clear in the
   title of the post that the timeline involves such deus ex machina
   devices.  There is no agreed method of labelling or convention wi
   respect to the titles of posts that feature supernatural events,
   though [ISOT] is regularly used to refer to a particular literary
   device (see Question 7). The critical issue is clarity and
   courtesy.  Many of the more interesting magical scenarios can be
   reformulated to remove the magical element. For example, "You wak
   up in the body of historical figure X, what do you do?" could
   perhaps be worded as "What decisions could historical figure X ha

   made, that would have lead to changes Y?". Such reformulations wi
   make the post more attractive to a number of readers, and often
   take little effort to do.

One should also be willing to accept that arguments can reach an imp
beyond which nothing can be gained by pursuing them. A few specific
have long since reached the impasse stage on the newsgroup as a whol
Besides the War of 1812, these include: who should properly be consi
Chinese (especially when the Mongols or Tibetans are brought up), th
possibility of European (meaning chiefly British) intervention in th
American Civil War, and especially the related subject of American v

British ironclads during that era.

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 6. What is a "double-blind what-if" and how should I respond?

A "double-blind" WI is one that pretends to be posted from an altern
history. Frequently, but not always, this takes the form of asking "
if" about something from real history, treating it as if it hadn't
happened, e.g. "What if England had resisted Napoleon successfully?"
Sometimes it will be clear what the author wants to pretend happened
instead, sometimes not.


Preferred style for responses is to pretend to be from the same
alternative history as the initial post. Feel free to add details to
fictitious history in your response, but try not to contradict anyth
someone has already said, unless you can do it in character ("The id
that the Empire nearly fell apart under Napoleon VI is a vicious lie
spread by Francophobe neo-radicals!").

Note that the existence of double-blinds means you should hesitate b
correcting a post which seems to be making a really flagrant error a
history -- while theoretically possible that an author really doesn'

that Napoleon never invaded Britain, it is much more likely to be a
double-blind what-if, in which case "correcting the error" will just
you look silly.

One regular appearance on SHWI is the "West Wing", a thread discussi
contemporary events as if they were from the television drama of the
name. This is not an invitation to discuss contemporary political is
but rather a running joke regarding the dramatic implausibilites of
history.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

 7. What does "... in the Sea of Time" mean?

It's a reference to S.M. Stirling's ISLAND IN THE SEA OF TIME (book
the Nantucket Trilogy), which sends 1998 Nantucket back to 1250 B.C.
through some unexplained mechanism and follows its inhabitants' subs
careers.

The book's publication sparked a large set of threads asking about t
impact of sending various areas or groups back in time.  It is now a
newsgroup practice to give any such time-travel question a subject h
"[whatever] in the Sea of Time", or just "ISOT."


--------------------------------------------------------------------
 8. What are the Alien Space Bats?

Newsgroup shorthand for complete disbelief in some suggested histori
reasoning: "alien space bats would be a more believable explanation.

For a while, they were being pressed into service for questions abou
effects of impossible events actually happening, but their primary u
remains for attacks on unrealism in timelines (Alison Brooks' page,
Question 19, gives the canonical example). They are still occasional

invoked as a quirky deus ex machina for impossible AHs, because no o
come up with anything better. It should be noted that the ASBs' crea
Alison Brooks (now sadly deceased), regretted the use of the ASBs as
supernatural agency, preferring to restrict them to rhetoric.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
 9. What does <abbreviation> mean?

There are several abbreviations common to much of Usenet which are n
described here. There are also a few that seem to be rare outside th
newsgroup, however:


 ACW = American Civil War
 AH = alternative history (not to be confused with A-H, Austria-Hung
 ASB = alien space bats; see Question 8 ATL = alternative timeline B
 Ban on Politics; see Question 4.a. It is also used as a verb; to
       BoP someone is to invoke the Ban
 DBWI = double-blind what-if; see Question 6 ISOT = "In the Sea Of T
 see Question 7 ObWI = "Obligatory What-If", a throwaway AH idea inc
 in an
        otherwise off-topic post
 OTL = our timeline; a synonym for real history POD, PoD = point of

 divergence; the moment when an AH starts to differ
from real history
 WI = what-if; used as a synonym for a particular alternative histor
      for a particular question
 YWUA = "You Wake Up As," or, what would the reader do if s/he repla
        a given historical figure with all current knowledge intact
        usually used as short hand for "given hindsight, what decisi
        would historical figure X make?"

Additionally there are two prefixes that appear relatively
frequently, both of which are specific to the newsgroup. *{text here

here} both signify "the alternative timeline version" of whatever te
they are applied to. For example, when discussing an alternative his
Napoleon is a physically large man, one might write about the differ
in behaviour and career of the real Napoleon, and *Napoleon. This
construction can also be used to refer to analogues of characters in
alternative history. For example, an alternative history that
featured a British instead of a French revolution in the 18th centur
might well feature an alt.Napoleon, or *Napoleon, who fulfils a simi
role (but is obviously not named Napoleon).

--------------------------------------------------------------------

10. What are the most common what-ifs?

Evelyn Leeper's 1999 count using the Uchronia database (see Question
found that World War II was about twice as popular as the American C
War, which was about twice as popular as World War I/Russian Revolut
The last was significantly ahead in a group that also included Water
the Armada, Kennedy's assassination and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Th
roughly matches findings by the late AH buff Mark Keller.

Soc.history.what-if duplicates the literature in the popularity of W
and the American Civil War. Certain specific aspects of both conflic

have been argued into the ground on the newsgroup without reaching
consensus (see Question 5). Some of the most famous points of diverg
are probably not such good choices to change the wars' outcomes as i
frequently believed, and in any case have been debated so often that
participants will show more interest in exploring other possibilitie

For WWII these include Operation Sealion, the use of chemical weapon
either side), Japan not striking at Pearl Harbor (but still attackin
the East Indies and Philippines) and Japan attacking the USSR rather
the USA. A similar list could be drawn up for the American Civil War
While further discussion of such timelines is welcomed, newcomers ar

advised to examine the archives to examine some of the oft repeated
arguments surrounding the subjects.

Beyond that, it is hard to say what topics come up most often, or (w
not the same thing) which sorts of questions are likely to spark a g
discussion. For some reason, several of the newsgroup's most long- l
and productive threads have concerned alternative versions of the
discovery and settlement of the American continents, and the probabi
of a scientific or industrial revolution occurring in a different cu
country or time. As the commercial, scientific and industrial revolu
are still much debated topics within real history, it is extremely

difficult to draw conclusions about alternative versions. Neverthele
these subjects have produced a wealth of interesting debate on SHWI.
Again, newcomers are advised to search the archives.

Despite these points, it is not possible to predict what idea will p
a good thread. Well worn themes may produced gems as easily as novel
ideas.

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11. What are some common historical errors I should avoid?


There are a number of historical issues that are still hotly debated
the newsgroup and in the historical profession. (Question 5 mentions
that have been debated enough for the newsgroup to tire of them.) Ho
a few ideas which are simply mistaken show up frequently in the
alternative history literature and on the newsgroup. Note that parti
outcomes desired can often be obtained by using a different, usually
earlier, point of divergence. Good results can also come from challe
the group to come up with a plausible justification for some specifi
event.

11.a. Could Operation Sealion have succeeded?


   Not with the existing situation in 1940: Germany lacked the neces
   resources to force the English Channel, and even transporting and
   supplying ground forces of the necessary size would have been
   difficult, probably impossible. Alison Brooks and Ian Montgomerie
   posted extended arguments to this effect; see their webpages (Que
   19). A plausible Nazi defeat of Great Britain requires changing
   something other than just going ahead with Sealion.

11.b. Could the American Indians have repelled the Europeans?


   No, nor any other people from the Old World who might have discov
   the New. Even apart from a considerable technical edge (guns, but
   metal working, shipbuilding, etc.), the Europeans had a decisive
   advantage because of their diseases. Due to their late settlement
   the continents and lack of domesticated animals, the native Ameri
   lacked any immunity to most Old World diseases, which meant a
   catastrophic population collapse (definitely higher than 50%, and
   perhaps more than 90%) in the first generations following contact
   Deaths on a similar scale will necessarily follow *any* extensive
   contact between the hemispheres.


11.c. Did the Chinese just use gunpowder for fireworks?

   Despite persistent stories to the contrary, the Chinese did use
   gunpowder for weapons. They used bombs from the tenth century AD,
   rockets from the tenth and eleventh, and even cannon from the
   thirteenth. Cannon seem to have diffused to Europe by the 1320s,
   China lost its lead in gunpowder weaponry probably in the 1400s.

11.d. Did Christianity destroy Greek science and the Roman Empire?

   Opinions differ about whether Christianity was a contributing fac

   the decline of the Roman Empire, but it is agreed that there were
   least, many other factors of greater importance -- after all, the
   Christian Roman Empire (Byzantium) lasted longer than the pagan E
   and Republic put together. Christianity definitely did not destro
   classical scientific tradition, which was moribund by the 1st cen
   BC and long dead by the time Christianity was significant enough
   anyone important to notice it.

11.e. Did the US come within one vote of adopting German as its
      official language?


   No. This urban legend seems to be based on a 1795 petition to pri
   some laws in German as well as (not instead of) English. During t
   debate, a motion to adjourn and consider the matter later failed
   vote. No vote was taken on the actual proposal. Later that year,
   Congress voted to issue federal laws in English only; the vote ta
   does not seem to have been recorded.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
12. Are the posts to soc.history.what-if archived somewhere?

There is no soc.history.what-if archive site, although there are a n

of threads saved on Ian Montgomerie's website (see Question 19), tha
Randy McDonald. Most of them are from late 2000 forward, but some ar
older.

The web search engine Google has a nearly-complete Usenet archive,
including every post made to soc.history.what-if and its predecessor
alt.history.what-if. Use their advanced search page:

  http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search

--------------------------------------------------------------------

13. Can anybody recommend a good book about alternative history?

About alternative history itself? There are a number of anthologies,
only one also includes non-fiction material about the genre, to wit
essay and a bibliography (by Gordon B. Chamberlain). It is:

  Waugh, Charles, G., & Martin H. Greenberg (eds), ALTERNATIVE
    HISTORIES: ELEVEN STORIES OF THE WORLD AS IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN (Ga
    1986)

Unhappily, the book was only published in hardback and can be diffic

find. The most likely place for you to locate it is at a reasonably
well-stocked public or university library.

Another recommendation is the following:

  Geoffrey Hawthorn, PLAUSIBLE WORLDS: POSSIBILITY AND UNDERSTANDING
  HISTORY AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES (Cambridge University Press, 1991)

Several dissertations have been written about alternative history as
literary sub-genre. Some examples are:


  Collins, William Joseph, PATHS NOT TAKEN: THE DEVELOPMENT, STRUCTU
    AND AESTHETICS OF THE ALTERNATIVE HISTORY (University of Califor
    Davis 1990).

  Gevers, Nicholas, MIRRORS OF THE PAST: VERSIONS OF HISTORY IN SCIE
    FICTION AND FANTASY (University of Cape Town 1997).

  McKnight, Ed, ALTERNATIVE HISTORY: THE DEVELOPMENT OF A LITERARY G
    (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 1994) available from
    Dissertation Services as order number 9508228.


The proceedings of a 1995 Berkeley conference have been published as
COUNTERFACTUAL THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN WORLD POLITICS: LOGICAL, METHO
LOGICAL, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES, eds. Philip E. Tetlock and
Belkin (Princeton 1996). The papers focused on how counterfactual
arguments should be generated, used, and judged by students of world
politics.

A British historian, Niall Ferguson, edited VIRTUAL HISTORY: ALTERNA
AND COUNTERFACTUALS (Picador 1997, etc) a collection of articles on
"counterfactuals" written by and for academic historians. This book
discusses and defends alternative history as a tool for understandin

history; it is not interested in alternative history as a genre of
fiction. It includes a lengthy introduction in which Ferguson tries
justify alternative history as a tool for historical studies.

A better recent book of the same type (though without a general
introduction) is WHAT IF? THE WORLD'S FOREMOST MILITARY HISTORIANS I
WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN (Putnam 1999), edited by Robert Cowley. Expande
a special issue of MHQ: THE JOURNAL OF MILITARY HISTORY, the book al
deserves its subtitle, assembling by far the most formidable array o
historians ever to consider alternative histories.


WHAT IF? is only the most prominent of a number of recent academic A
books or collections based on military history; see the next Questio
was successful enough for a sequel, WHAT IF? 2: EMINENT HISTORIANS I
WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN (Putnam, 2001), which concentrates on non-milit
alternatives.

Finally, arguments for and against "counterfactual" history as a too
historians and (especially) history teachers may be found in Alexand
Demandt's HISTORY THAT NEVER HAPPENED: A TREATISE ON THE QUESTION, W
WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF--? (MacFarland 1993), translated by Colin D.
Thompson from the third edition of the original German (Vandenhoek &

Ruprecht 1984, etc).

--------------------------------------------------------------------
14. What alternative histories should I read?

Everyone has different tastes; asking for suggestions on the newsgro
will usually get several quite different responses. Some of the most
widely acknowledged classics of the field are listed below. It shoul
emphasised that many of these "histories" are in fact science fictio
utilising supernatural or non-historical effects as a literary devic


  Benford, Gregory, & Martin H. Greenberg (eds), HITLER VICTORIOUS:
    ELEVEN STORIES OF THE GERMAN VICTORY IN WORLD WAR II (Garland 19
    etc) [an anthology including several classic stories]

  de Camp, L. Sprague, LEST DARKNESS FALL (Ballantine 1949, etc)

  Dick, Philip K., THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE (Putnam's 1962, etc)

  Dixon, Dougal, THE NEW DINOSAURS, AN ALTERNATE EVOLUTION (Grafton
    1988, etc)


  Garrett, Randall, LORD DARCY (SFBC 1983, etc); omnibus of MURDER A
    MAGIC (Ace 1979); TOO MANY MAGICIANS (Doubleday 1967, etc); and
    DARCY INVESTIGATES (Ace 1981)

  Kantor, Mackinlay, IF THE SOUTH HAD WON THE CIVIL WAR (Bantam 1961

  Moore, Ward, BRING THE JUBILEE (Farrar, Straus & Young 1953, etc)

  Piper, H. Beam, LORD KALVAN OF OTHERWHEN (Ace 1965, etc; vt GUNPOW
    GOD, Sphere 1978; available in THE COMPLETE PARATIME Ace 2001)


  Roberts, Keith, PAVANE (Hart-Davis 1968, etc)

  Sobel, Robert, FOR WANT OF A NAIL: IF BURGOYNE HAD WON AT SARATOGA
    (Macmillan 1973; Greenhill 1997)

  Spinrad, Norman, THE IRON DREAM (Avon 1972, etc)

  Squire, J.C. (ed), IF IT HAD HAPPENED OTHERWISE: LAPSES INTO IMAGI
    HISTORY (Longmans, Green 1931; exp Sidgwick & Jackson 1972; St.
    Martin's 1974); rev as IF: OR, HISTORY REWRITTEN (Viking 1931;
    Kennikat 1964)


  Stirling, S.M., THE DOMINATION (Baen 1999); omnibus of MARCHING
    THROUGH GEORGIA (Baen 1988); UNDER THE YOKE (Baen 1989); and THE
    DOGS (Baen 1990)

  Turtledove, Harry, AGENT OF BYZANTIUM (Congdon & Weed/Contemporary
    1987, etc; exp Baen 1994)

  Turtledove, Harry, and L. Sprague de Camp, DOWN IN THE BOTTOMLANDS
   (AND OTHER PLACES) (Baen 1999) [includes Turtledove's title story
   the classic "Wheels of If" by de Camp & Turtledove's sequel]


  Turtledove, Harry, THE GUNS OF THE SOUTH: A NOVEL OF THE CIVIL WAR
    (Ballantine 1992, etc)

The science fiction goes in and out of print, and they can be
difficult to find unless you have a friend with a personal library o
SF classics. Note that Kantor, Sobel, and the Squire anthology are n
SF or even fiction; they are essays in "imaginary history." Such boo
are more likely to be found in libraries which view SF as beneath
their dignity. Special mention should be made of Robert Sobel's FOR
WANT OF A NAIL.


FOR WANT OF A NAIL: IF BURGOYNE HAD WON AT SARATOGA is probably the
most detailed alternative history of all time, written by a real
historian with a number of publications in American business
history. Taking the form of a lengthy (400+ pages) academic history
the two sister nations which result, it has a full scholarly apparat
including hundreds of references, all of them completely
invented. Long out of print, FOR WANT OF A NAIL was republished by
Greenhill in late 1997.

The alternative timeline of FOR WANT OF A NAIL has been unofficially

developed beyond the date where Sobel ended his history, through the
collective effort of a number of SHWI contributors. The FOR ALL NAIL
timeline explores in depth many of the issues raised in Sobel's work
well as being extremely entertaining. An archive of FOR ALL NAILS po
and information regarding the project and the FOR ALL NAILS "cabal"
found at:

 http://www.kebe.com/for-all-nails/

The following books were published recently enough to be easily find
and have all received at least some favorable attention. As with the

classics above, some are "pure" alternative history, but others invo
time travel, magic, or some other implausible deus ex machina device

  Barnes, John, FINITY (Tor 1999)

  Baxter, Stephen, VOYAGE (HarperCollins UK 1996, etc)

  Bear, Greg, DINOSAUR SUMMER (Warner 1998)

  Blom, Suzanne Alles, INCA: THE SCARLET FRINGE (Tor/Forge 2001)


  Dreyfuss, Richard and Harry Turtledove, THE TWO GEORGES (Tor 1996,
    etc)

  DuBois, Brendan, RESURRECTION DAY (Putnam 1999, etc)

  Flint, Eric, 1632 (Baen 2000)

  Fry, Stephen, MAKING HISTORY (Hutchinson 1996, etc)

  Garfinkle, Richard, CELESTIAL MATTERS: A NOVEL OF ALTERNATE SCIENC
    (Tor 1996, etc)


  Gentle, Mary. ASH: A SECRET HISTORY Series (Avon/Eos 1999-2000, et

  Harris, Robert, FATHERLAND (Hutchinson 1992, etc)

  Keyes, J. Gregory, AGE OF UNREASON Series (Ballantine 1998-2001, e

  McAuley, Paul J., PASQUALE'S ANGEL (Morrow 1995, etc)

  Newman, Kim, ANNO DRACULA Series (Simon & Schuster 1992-1998, etc)


  Niles, Douglas and Michael Dobson, FOX ON THE RHINE (Tor/Forge 200

  Sargent, Pamela, CLIMB THE WIND (Harper Prism 1998, etc)

  Stirling, S.M., NANTUCKET Trilogy (ROC 1998-2000)

  Stirling, S.M., THE PESHAWAR LANCERS (ROC 2002)

  Stroyar, J.N., THE CHILDREN'S WAR (Pocket 2001)

  Turtledove, Harry, HOW FEW REMAIN: A NOVEL OF THE SECOND WAR BETWE

    THE STATES (Ballantine 1997, etc)

  Turtledove, Harry, THE GREAT WAR/AMERICAN EMPIRE Series (Ballantin
    1998-)

  Turtledove, Harry, WORLDWAR Series (Ballantine 1994-2001)

  Wilson, Robert Charles, DARWINIA (Tor 1998, etc)

Some decent alternative history anthologies which are currently avai
are:


  Dozois, Gardner & Stanley Schmidt (eds), ROADS NOT TAKEN: TALES OF
    ALTERNATE HISTORY (Del Rey 1998)

  Greenberg, Martin H. (ed), THE WAY IT WASN'T: GREAT STORIES OF
    ALTERNATE HISTORY (Carol 1996)

  Shainblum, Marc and John Dupuis (eds), ARROWDREAMS: AN ANTHOLOGY O
    ALTERNATE CANADAS (Nuage 1998)

  Stirling, S.M., DRAKAS! (Baen, 2000)


  Turtledove, Harry and Roland J. Green (eds), ALTERNATE GENERALS (B
    1998)

  Turtledove, Harry and Martin H. Greenberg, THE BEST ALTERNATE
    HISTORY STORIES OF THE 20TH CENTURY (Ballantine/Del Rey 2001)

Finally, thanks to the recent mini-boom in "non-fiction" alternative
history centering on military AH, it needs its own section of recent
published or republished books. Greenhill/Stackpole apparently inten
publish at least one such volume every year. See also Question 13.


  Deutsch, Harold and Dennis Showalter, WHAT IF? STRATEGIC ALTERNATI
    OF WWII (The Emperor's Press, 1997)


  Macksey, Kenneth, INVASION: THE GERMAN INVASION OF ENGLAND, JULY
    1940 (Macmillan 1980, etc)

  Macksey, Kenneth (ed), THE HITLER OPTIONS (Greenhill 1994, etc)

  North, Jonathan (ed), THE NAPOLEON OPTIONS (Greenhill 2000)


  Talley, Steve, ALMOST AMERICA: FROM THE COLONISTS TO CLINTON: A
    "WHAT IF" HISTORY OF THE U.S. (HarperCollins 2000)

  Tsouras, Peter G., DISASTER AT D-DAY: THE GERMANS DEFEAT THE ALLIE
     JUNE 1944 (Greenhill 1994)

  Tsouras, Peter G., GETTYSBURG: AN ALTERNATE HISTORY (Greenhill 199

  Tsouras, Peter G., ed., RISING SUN VICTORIOUS: THE ALTERNATE HISTO
     OF HOW JAPAN WON THE PACIFIC WAR (Greenhill 2001)



Alternative history is also used as the basis for role-playing games
example which deserves special mention is:

   Hite, Kenneth, Craig Neumeier and Michael S. Schiffer, GURPS
    ALTERNATE EARTHS (Steve Jackson Games 1996) and GURPS ALTERNATE
    2 (Steve Jackson Games 1999)

This is a collection of six alternative histories written for Steve
Jackson Games' role-playing game GURPS. Three of the timelines are

relatively "standard" choices (CSA, Nazis, Roman Empire); three are
unusual (Aztecs, Christian Japan, 1920s pulp science). It has a page
the SJ Games website

  http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/AltEarths/

There is a sequel GURPS ALTERNATE EARTHS 2, six more worlds tending
more unusual choices in its scenarios (American Revolution, Ming Chi
Vikings, scientific Muslims, Revolution of 1688 and a paratime empir

  http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/altearths2/


There are currently no plans for additional volumes. The histories a
worth examining in their own right as a good introduction to alterna
history -- one does not need to be interested in GURPS or role playi
find value in them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
15. Is there an (on-line) alternative history book list?

There sure is, maintained by Robert B. Schmunk (rbs@uchronia.net). H
to maintain this FAQ, too, so he couldn't praise it as it deserves:

*very* impressive, one of the best specialist bibliographies on the
and far superior to any printed AH resource. The URL is

  http://www.uchronia.net/

--------------------------------------------------------------------
16. What are the Sidewise Awards?

The Sidewise Awards were created in 1995 to honor the best alternati
histories published each year. There are a "long form" (a novel or s
and "short form" award. Nominees (the finalists from all published A

selected during the calendar year subsequent to complete publication
the winners from that short list announced at Worldcon (the World Sc
Fiction Convention). The Sidewise Awards have a web page at

  http://www.uchronia.net/sidewise/

which lists previous winners & nominees, and the works that have bee
suggested to the judges for the current year. It also gives contact
information for the judges if you want to make a nomination.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

17. Are there other alternative history discussion areas?

Yes. The other Usenet newsgroups with some level of official interes
alternative history are alt.tv.sliders (about the alternative-worlds
show), rec.arts.sf.written (the correct venue for discussion of the
characters, or literary merit of most published alternative historie
and the specialty group alt.books.harry-turtledove.

As of April 2000, there is a freeform online role-playing game, "SHW
the Sea Of Time," a mailing list in which a number of SHWI participa
are constructing an ATL based on their actions after being sent back

1800 with personal computers but no other equipment:

  http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/SHWI-ISOT

SHWI has also spawned a online reading group, "SWHI
Books". Unfortunately this group has now closed, nevertheless the
archive of posts may be of interest to the shwi community:

 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/shwibooks/

There are at least two general electronic mailing lists. One is a Ya

group; send an e-mail to Alternatehistory-subscribe@ yahoogroups.com
other, "Time in Fictions," is a bilingual French- English mailing li
discussion of time travel and related themes in all media. TiF is li
to the non-professional French magazine LA CLEPSYDRE. Further inform
and registration is available at

  http://clepsydre.free.fr/

There are also e-lists devoted to two authors best known for their
alternative histories. To subscribe to Videssos, the Harry Turtledov
Discussion List, send a blank e-mail to videssos-subscribe@

yahoogroups.com. To subscribe to the S.M. Stirling Discussion List,
blank e-mail to stirling-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

There are web-based alternative history forums at Del Rey's alternat
history site and Ian Montgomerie's personal site (see Question 18).

On other networks, there is an alternate history category of the Sci
Fiction Round Table (SFRT1) on GEnie -- ask some other user how to g
about signing up.

The BBC Online discussion boards also host a what-if list as a spin-

from an alternative history radio programme:

  http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-perl/h2/h2.cgi?state=view&board=history.w

Off the Net completely, there is a paper APA "Point of Divergence":
Rittenhouse's page (see question 18) has a description and contact
information.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
18. Are there any alternative history Web sites?


Several; too many, in fact, to conveniently list them all. Fortunate
most of the better pages have links to other sites. The most obvious
to begin is the Uchronia site, which has an extensive links page as
as the definitive AH bibliography (see Question 15) and information
Sidewise Awards (see Question 16):

  http://www.uchronia.net/

There is a (small) alternate history web ring at

  http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=althistory&list


The Alternate History Travel Guides grew out of an old newsgroup thr

  http://www.ahtg.net

A French language site which includes articles and reviews of scienc
fiction and in particular alternative history can be found at:

http://www.noosfere.com/heberg/mota/

The other sites listed here are all alternative history pages which

to current or past contributors to soc.history.what-if. The contents
toward original material rather than information on published altern
histories.

Stephen Abbott:

  http://www.metro2000.net/~stabbott/AH.htm

Alison Brooks & David Flin:

  http://www.flin.demon.co.uk/


Logan Ferree:

  http://spiritualist.alternatehistory.com/

Tom Gehring [also hosts material by Johnny Pez]:

  http://www.geocities.com/althist/index.html

"Gnome", author of the timeline "What if Gordon Banks had played?"


 http://www.btinternet.com/~chief.gnome/

Doug Hoff:

  http://www.althist.com/

Anthony Mayer [also hosts material by Jonathan Edelstein and Sydney

  http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~aem3/history.html

Ian Montgomerie [also hosts material by a number of other authors]:

  http://www.alternatehistory.com/entry.html

Bucky Rea:

  http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/alternative_history

	    Jim Rittenhouse [includes information on the alternate history
  APA "Point of Divergence"]:

  http://www.marmotgraphics.com/althistory/index.html


Marcus Rowland ["Forgotten Futures" shareware RPG based on 19th- and
  early 20th-century scientific romances, some explicitly AH]:

  http://www.ffutures.demon.co.uk/

Erwin Wodarczak:

  http://www.wodarczak.net/althist/

--------------------------------------------------------------------

19. Is there any record of newsgroup traffic in soc.history.what-if?

There certainly is. The website

  http://www.ex-parrot.com/~chris/ngml/soc.history.what-if.html

provides a weekly breakdown of posting statistics to
soc.history.what-if. This tool is provided by Chris Lightfoot
(http://www.ex-parrot.com/~chris/), a regular contributor to the
group, and questions regarding the script or site should be addresse
to him.