Yvonmukluk
Member
I stumbled across references to this book while I was browsing the web, and having tracked down and read it for myself, I'd heartily recommend it! It's a collection of (as the title implies) 10 stories by various academics stepping into the shoes of various historical figures and trying to plot out different plausible paths that they could have taken to the questions they faced. While they all have the main story bookended by commentary by the authors on the real-world context and their theorized repercussions of the divergent histories. The stories do all play with this format - while most do tend to take first-person narratives of some description, whether in hypothetical memoirs or otherwise, the final story story consists of a television interview transcript with the protagonist, and the Adolphe Tiers story jumps between various sources, from newspapers to correspondence to Tiers' diary, complete with notes in the margins (which is a nice touch), while the chapter focusing on Alexander Dubcek's handling of the Prague Spring continues largely the same perspective of the framing device. all of the writers largely try to take pains not to literally quantum leap themselves into their protagonists, but try and instead establish alternative paths that those individuals could have plausibly taken - the Dubcek chapter dives into how his background and upbringing would lead him to try and walk the tightrope he unsuccessfully sought to navigate.
Certainly it's somewhat dated, but I think it still holds up pretty well, and I feel most of the stories paint worlds that would be fascinating to revisit. The only real complaint is that I'd have liked to see more diversity in the perspectives - Asia & South America only provide one story each, and unfortunately Africa is excluded entirely, not to mention all the protagonists are male (the foreword mentions that a Joan of Arc chapter was planned but never came to fruition). That's not to say what's in the book is bad by any means - the chapter focusing on Benito Juarez is a highlight - but I feel like there's a rich vein of other perspectives that could have been explored (then again, considering we're talking all of human history here, there was always goign to be some stuff that didn't make it in).
Personally I'd recommend this book if you can find it, it's an interesting take on alternate history. Honestly, I'd love to see a similar type of anthology come out today.
Certainly it's somewhat dated, but I think it still holds up pretty well, and I feel most of the stories paint worlds that would be fascinating to revisit. The only real complaint is that I'd have liked to see more diversity in the perspectives - Asia & South America only provide one story each, and unfortunately Africa is excluded entirely, not to mention all the protagonists are male (the foreword mentions that a Joan of Arc chapter was planned but never came to fruition). That's not to say what's in the book is bad by any means - the chapter focusing on Benito Juarez is a highlight - but I feel like there's a rich vein of other perspectives that could have been explored (then again, considering we're talking all of human history here, there was always goign to be some stuff that didn't make it in).
Personally I'd recommend this book if you can find it, it's an interesting take on alternate history. Honestly, I'd love to see a similar type of anthology come out today.