- Location
- Visiting BWBs.
@SenatorChickpea has reviewed that classic collection of stories by some quite well-known people, If It Had Happened Otherwise, Here.
that part is very very funnyOnce you get past the ludicrously posh authors
that part is very very funny
David Love (Impala Shield With Two Bars, Awarded Literally Nothing At Primary School)I feel like SLP should adopt it.
Liam Connell (Third Place Year Six Free-Style, Winner Year 13 Speech Competition)
Brutish imperial history
LOLmostly in a windmill in West Sussex
It might be because of the 1930s stereotype I've seen a few times of the "India bore" retired colonel to whom the broader UK population was indifferent at best.I am a bit surprised there's nothing about Brutish imperial history, like "look how bad India would be if we couldn't help them, by Major-General Tarquin Money-Sterling KCBE"
Now to write the most surreal AH of all: what if Great Men of history didn’t write alternate history with a focus on Great Men and so, because Great Men didn’t do it, the Great Man form of AH doesn’t take off?Great review, fascinating to consider the endurance of the Great Man in AH goes back to it actually being produced by Great Men.
In those days posh people were the only ones likely to get published. To some degree it remains the case, but fortunately, to a slightly lesser extent.I do recommend this book for anyone who's interested in the history of this genre.
Once you get past the ludicrously posh authors, it really is very interesting to see just how similar the work is to much of the stuff being done here on ah.com.
A truly great book which I'd like more contemporary writers to update with their views. My favourite story was If Drouet's Cart Had Stuck@SenatorChickpea has reviewed that classic collection of stories by some quite well-known people, If It Had Happened Otherwise, Here.
The nature of the in-group has changed somewhat, but not that much. Look at the Venn diagram between 'been on telly' and 'gets to (sometimes ghost)write highly-promoted novels in Waterstone's, usually crime novels'.In those days posh people were the only ones likely to get published. To some degree it remains the case, but fortunately, to a slightly lesser extent.
Is he really wrong ? I'm not trying to say AH is dumb or pointless but yeah it is most certainly an intellectual game of fantasy. We like to subscribe a meaning and importance to AH that doesn't really exist a lot more than we should. It's a writer's hobby that happens to use real events as a backdrop. I don't think it would accomplish much if academics had to go "well yes but what if The Americas weren't discovered until 1504 instead ?" and a lot of us (I'd say the majority really) are just people who have a above average interest and knowledge in history not college educated historians or even individuals that truly study history outside of their hobby.Liam Connell:
Men who would play, as Carr sneered, intellectual parlour games.
It's true that a lot of AH is just another exercise in literary fun, in the same way most science fiction doesn't have anything too concrete to say about real-world science and engineering. But, in the same way that watching Star Trek inspired a generation of engineers towards flip phones and tablet computers, AH can have the potential to affect the real world. It's been highlighted that a generation of people interested in politics and history (some of them) got there through the AH mod of "Hearts of Iron", "Kaiserreich", which is based on a German victory in WW1. (@Meadow has a lot to answer for).How close the stories are the stuff in 90s paperbacks and forum posts is one of those nice little things reminding you that humanity has always been the same
Is he really wrong ? I'm not trying to say AH is dumb or pointless but yeah it is most certainly an intellectual game of fantasy. We like to subscribe a meaning and importance to AH that doesn't really exist a lot more than we should. It's a writer's hobby that happens to use real events as a backdrop. I don't think it would accomplish much if academics had to go "well yes but what if The Americas weren't discovered until 1504 instead ?" and a lot of us (I'd say the majority really) are just people who have a above average interest and knowledge in history not college educated historians or even individuals that truly study history outside of their hobby.
How close the stories are the stuff in 90s paperbacks and forum posts is one of those nice little things reminding you that humanity has always been the same
Is he really wrong ? I'm not trying to say AH is dumb or pointless but yeah it is most certainly an intellectual game of fantasy. We like to subscribe a meaning and importance to AH that doesn't really exist a lot more than we should. It's a writer's hobby that happens to use real events as a backdrop. I don't think it would accomplish much if academics had to go "well yes but what if The Americas weren't discovered until 1504 instead ?" and a lot of us (I'd say the majority really) are just people who have a above average interest and knowledge in history not college educated historians or even individuals that truly study history outside of their hobby.
Hilaire Belloc was French by descent and cultural affiliation (and an enthusiastic 'romantic traditionalist' Catholic like Chesterton) but was brought up in and lived in the UK, mostly in a windmill in West Sussex.
LOL
how very naturalised English