More What If?: Eminent Historians Imagine What Might Have Been?

The title of What If? is slightly misleading, as often the alternative history extends no more than two pages. Indeed one of the imagined accounts is only half a page, and many simply talk about the trouble of imagining alternate history than actually doing it.

Where it lacks in alternate history, it makes up for in the 'backstory' to each topic. Perhaps an alternative version of this book would have cut out the What If element, and simply advertised it as a short run-down of some of the most important historical events.

Unfortunately the book is very American orientated, with American spelling and a few topics on American politics, but this is a minor point.

From Chinese explorers to a few topics on the Second World War, a diverse range of topics are covered throughout history. I'd recommend this book, but don't expect amazing revelations of alternative events. Take it more as a brief introduction to events you probably should know about. It certainly stoked my interest in events such as the Pope's role during WWII and a Japanese invasion of Australia.

Magnificent sequel to the original (0/0 people found this helpful)

This book is a thoroughly enjoyable sequel to the first "What If". Eminent historians examine a number of truly fascinating what if scenarios. The main difference between this and the original title is that social and religious what if scenarios are included as well as warfare what ifs. For example, the authors examine what would have happened had Pontius Pilate spared Jesus, or what if Pope Pius had protested about the Holocaust?

One of the most surprising themes is what if the potato had never been brought from the New World back to Europe? There would be no Irish potato famine for a start, which would mean no large Irish Diaspora world wide, meaning no President Kennedy. Also, the potato was a more stable crop that others, and the population boom of Europe can be attributed to it in part.

All in all, I strongly recommend this book for keen students of history, especially if you enjoyed the first book in the series.

An interesting blend (1/1 people found this helpful)

This book offers to the reader a historical interpretation of key events in history, combined with the imagination and flair of the author to forray into the world of counterfactuals. It is primarily, a fascinating insight into many events which i knew of, yet had little knowledge or understanding of. Although i must agree with previous reviews and conceed that it is heavily bias towards the 20th century, there are notable exceptions. The essay regarding Martin Luther's untimely death i found particularly interesting. The strength of this book lies in the fact that it moves at a fast pace and is able to cover many different events, which prevents it from stagnating. Unfortunatly, there is no real attempt in the essays to explore the counterfactual element beyond a few pages, which is a slight disappointment. Nevertheless, i found the book to be enjoyable and would recommend it to anyone else who had a inclination towards history, and wanted something easy going and not to specific.

Slightly better than the first book (1/1 people found this helpful)

Again we have a mishmash of ideas that makes us worry about the state of American academia. A professor of history and religious studies (talk about multitasking) presents a badly written dramatic account of Christ's trial, taking the canonical gospels as historically accurate source material. Another soi-disant expert presents a picture of Lenin that would embarrass an AS level student (Political portraits have more to do with iconography than with reality? Well I never...). The rest, bar one amusing and engaging essay about the Franco-Prussian war, is - like so much TV history - heavily weighted toward the twentieth century and the US. If you enjoyed Jon Bon Jovi cracking the enigma code, this is for you...

A wide range of very interesting historical essays (4/4 people found this helpful)

This book is a very attractive collection of essays. The range is fantastic- it contains battlefield history, social history and historical theology. To give one specific example of each it contains an essay about Hastings, an acount of Linclons decision to free the slaves and an essay about Jesus.

The vast majority of all the essays in this book is actually simply factual accounts. The Hastings essay, for example, describes the battle in detail and the events leading up to Williams invasion-in that unchronological order! In between this there is about a page slighly dabbling in "what if" with a few thoughts about Britian as a Norse, rather than Latin, nation.

This book is, mostly, a history book. The main body of each essay concentrates on historical details. The "what if" part is actually rather limited (usually just a couple of pages) and based heavily on factual knowledge, such as how other powers in that situation behaved. As such don't buy it expecting wild and fantastical theories about how the world might have been!

This book also presumes the reader to have some historical knowledge already, and as such is best suited for people who have studied history at A level and beyond (or who are keen readers). Most people will probably find several essays to be simply a repeat of things already stuided- but there is more than enough scope in this book for people to find something new.

This is a nicely put together book- excellent for people who enjoy history to dip into time and time again.

More What If?: Eminent Historians Imagine What Might Have Been?

Robert Cowley

Reader Reviews:

Less 'What If', more - 'What Did Happen' (0/0 people found this helpful)

Magnificent sequel to the original (0/0 people found this helpful)

An interesting blend (1/1 people found this helpful)

Slightly better than the first book (1/1 people found this helpful)

A wide range of very interesting historical essays (4/4 people found this helpful)

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