An alternative history is a sub-genre of fiction, in which the author writes about what might have happened if key events in history had not occurred, or if key figures had not affected those events. Alt histories fall into the category of speculative fiction, although they are based on real events.
Stephen King’s 11/22/63: A Novel is a great example of alt history. In this book, published in 2011, English teacher Jake Epping is made aware of a portal back to the year 1958, and goes back in time to try to stop the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Publishers Weekly magazine dubbed author Harry Turtledove “The Master of Alternate History” because he has written so many series about alt history, including Southern Victory, Days of Infamy, Atlantis, The War that Came Early, and The Hot War. Many of his series, such as War Between the Provinces, contain magic or other fantasy elements. Turtledove has quite a few other standalone alternative histories, as well.
Two of Harry Turtledove’s favorite alt history books are:
- The Man in the High Castle (1962) by Philip K. Dick - widely acknowledged as the best-known of this genre, this novel takes place in a United States that lost World War II, and is divided between Germany in the East and Japan in the West.
- The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (2007) by Michael Chabon - this murder mystery takes place in the Federal District of Sitka (Alaska); for over 60 years Jewish refugees have flourished in this safe haven, set up after Israel collapsed.
Naomi Novik has written an absorbing series, Temeraire, which is a re-imagining of the Napoleonic Wars - with dragons on the battlefields. Well, in the skies above the battlefields. There are nine books in this particular series, of which the first is His Majesty’s Dragon (2006).
Douglas County Libraries in Colorado recently put a list of alternative history books on their website, with a description of each one, beginning with the question “what if?” Here is a partial list:
- The Years of Rice and Salt (2002) by Kim Stanley Robinson - what if the Black Death killed 99% of Europe?
- The Underground Railroad: A Novel (2016) by Colson Whitehead - what if the Underground Railroad was an actual railroad?
- The Calculating Stars (2018) by Mary Robinette Kowal - what if a meteor destroyed part of the U.S. in 1952?
- American Royals (2019) by Katharine McGee - what if George Washington became king instead of president?
- Underground Airlines (2016) by Ben H. Winters - what if the Civil War never happened?
Find any of these titles in the library’s catalog, and on the title detail page you will see a heading for Genre Term; under that you will see “Alternative histories (Fiction)”. Click on this heading to discover even more alt histories at the library.
New at the Library
Fiction
- The Crash by Freida McFadden
- Good Dirt: A Novel by Charmaine Wilkerson
- How to Sleep at Night: A Novel by Elizabeth Harris
Nonfiction
- Memorial Days: A Memoir by Geraldine Brooks
- Save Our Souls: The True Story of a Castaway Family, Treachery, and Murder by Matthew Pearl
- How to Share an Egg: A True Story of Hunger, Love, and Plenty by Bonny Reichert
Children
- Willow Takes on the Weather by Rachel Noble
- And She Was Loved: Toni Morrison’s Life in Stories by Andrea Davis Pinkney
- Same Page by Elly Swartz
