What If?

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Robert Cowley

Pages: (Unknown Binding)

ISBN: 074356135X

Pub: Simon & Schuster (a)

Pub date: 2006-07

Reader Reviews:

Fun, But Not As Good As the 1st Volume (10/10 people found this helpful)

Following the vast success of the first What If collection, editor Cowley returns with another collection with a slightly different subtitle. Instead of "The World's Foremost Military Historians Imagine What Might Have Been" we now have "Eminent Historians." This is presumably to underscore the presence of nonmilitary essays and not a commentary on a decline in the quality of the contributors. It's worth noting that there's a startling lack of women in the two volumes-historical novelist Ceceila Holland appears in both, but apparently counterfactualism is overwhelmingly the brief of male historians. In any event, the twenty-five essays proceed in chronological order, and are supported by outstanding maps.

As with the earlier volume, I generally enjoyed the essays that concentrated on the older events more, perhaps because they are more removed from time and consciousness and thus are more plausible. While the essays are all entirely accessible, the are somewhat uneven in quality and on the whole seem a little short. In fact, one criticism is that in many cases, an excellent contextual setup trails off into very little counterfactual speculation. Still, each essay is useful as a minor history lesson if nothing else. A more minor annoyance is editor Cowley's one page introduction to each essay, which summarizes it and gives away the main points.

While some of my favorite essays were those which speculated on Pontius Pilate's sparing of Jesus, the continued exploration embarked upon in the 15th century by a massive Chinese navy, Napoleon's invasion of North American, and an examination of how WWII might have proceeded had the Allies not cracked the Enigma code machine-others that looked at the effects of small bureaucratic or political shifts were equally intriguing. For example, Robert O'Connell's fascinating look at how bureaucratic interference "torpedoed" WWI Germany's exploitation of its massive and potentially devastating submarine warfare "gap." James Chace's essay on Henry Wallace's political career, and a presidency following FDR's death that could have been, is so interesting in its own right, that the counterfactual implications are almost incidental to one's enjoyment. Other essays are more clumsily conceived, such as one positing American without Nixon, Johnson, and Kennedy, and one on Adolf Hitler being tried at Nuremberg. While these have interesting historical nuggets, they aren't as imaginative or interesting as most of the collection. Consider if Martin Luther had been burned as a heretic, or if a ragtag Australian unit hadn't held off an overwhelming Japanese force in New Guinea bent on securing the airfield from which to launch an invasion of Australia, or if WWII had started a year earlier. Had Cowley cut the five weakest essays and given the space to expand the remaining essays, it would have been a stronger collection-however, it's still well worth reading.

Very interesting but also very American in viewpoint (9/9 people found this helpful)

First the plaudits, this is an interesting book which investigates some intriguing "What Ifs" of History. All the essays are well researched and written and perhaps most importantly VERY easy to read. I especially enjoyed the essays on Antony and Cleopatra,Harold Godwinson and William the Conqueror (although some thought as to what would have happened if Harald Hardrada had won at Stamford Bridge would have been nice) and France not fighting the Franco-Prussian War.
However I can only give the book 3 stars,as a hardback, as it is almost entirely written from a solely American point of view. Of course this is valid and makes a change from an Anglocentric viewpoint, but it makes some of the essays almost painful to read, for example VE Day - November 11th 1944, in which Patton and Bradley are let off Eisenhower's leash to win the war early and blow British, French and Soviet sensibilities!
In summary, a very interesting book but VERY American in point of view. I suggest waiting for the paperback. That would get 4 or 5 stars.

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