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Alternate History After 1900: Exploring the What-Ifs of the 20th and 21st Centuries
Author: Dr. Eleanor Vance, PhD in History ( specializing in 20th-century social and political history), Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley.
Keywords: alternate history after 1900, counterfactual history, what-if history, 20th-century history, 21st-century history, historical fiction, hypothetical scenarios, timeline alteration.
Abstract: This article delves into the fascinating and complex world of alternate history after 1900. We explore the inherent challenges in constructing believable and insightful alternate timelines, examining both the opportunities for creative exploration and the pitfalls of historical inaccuracy. By analyzing key historical turning points, we demonstrate how even minor alterations can trigger dramatic, unforeseen consequences, reshaping the geopolitical landscape and impacting social, economic, and technological development. We will also discuss the ethical considerations involved in exploring such scenarios.
Introduction:
The allure of "what if?" questions is deeply ingrained in the human psyche. Alternate history after 1900, a genre often explored in fiction and academic circles, allows us to grapple with these questions by imagining alternative outcomes to pivotal historical events. This article explores the methodological challenges and creative potential of crafting believable alternate timelines, specifically focusing on the period after 1900, a century marked by unprecedented technological advancements, global conflicts, and ideological shifts. Examining alternate history after 1900 requires a rigorous understanding of both historical context and the principles of counterfactual reasoning.
The Challenges of Constructing Believable Alternate Histories After 1900
One of the primary challenges lies in maintaining internal consistency within the altered timeline. A seemingly small change, such as preventing the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, can ripple through history with unforeseen and far-reaching consequences. This butterfly effect necessitates careful consideration of the interconnectedness of historical events. Simply swapping one outcome for another without considering the cascading effects results in an implausible and ultimately unsatisfying alternate history after 1900.
Further complicating the process is the sheer complexity of the 20th and 21st centuries. The rapid pace of technological advancement, the interconnectedness of global economies, and the rise and fall of ideologies make it incredibly difficult to predict the long-term consequences of even seemingly minor alterations. For instance, an alternate history after 1900 where the United States did not enter World War I would necessitate a reevaluation of the Treaty of Versailles, the rise of fascism in Europe, and the subsequent course of the Cold War.
Moreover, the ethical implications of constructing alternate histories after 1900 must be acknowledged. While exploring hypothetical scenarios can be intellectually stimulating, it is crucial to avoid trivializing the suffering and hardship experienced by real people throughout history. Sensationalizing or romanticizing violence or oppression for the sake of a compelling narrative is ethically problematic. Responsible engagement with alternate history requires sensitivity, nuance, and a deep respect for historical accuracy.
The Opportunities: Exploring Counterfactual Scenarios
Despite these challenges, alternate history after 1900 offers significant opportunities for exploring complex historical themes and furthering our understanding of the past. By systematically altering key variables, we can gain insights into the relative importance of different historical factors. For example, an alternate history after 1900 in which the Soviet Union collapsed in the 1960s would allow us to assess the impact of Soviet communism on the global political order and the subsequent development of the Cold War.
Furthermore, alternate history after 1900 serves as a powerful tool for promoting critical thinking and historical literacy. By engaging with counterfactual scenarios, readers and scholars are challenged to analyze historical causation and evaluate the validity of different interpretations of the past. The very act of constructing an alternate timeline requires a deep understanding of the historical context, forcing individuals to grapple with complex issues and develop sophisticated analytical skills.
The genre also allows for creative exploration of potential futures. By examining alternative pathways that history might have taken, we can better understand the range of possibilities that exist and potentially gain a clearer perspective on the present. This is particularly relevant in an era of rapid technological change and geopolitical uncertainty. Alternate history after 1900 can offer a framework for envisioning potential futures and prompting discussions about the choices we make today and their long-term consequences.
Methodological Considerations in Alternate History After 1900
Constructing a believable alternate history after 1900 requires careful consideration of several methodological factors. First, the chosen point of divergence must be clearly defined and justified. The alteration must be plausible within the context of the existing historical record, avoiding anachronisms or inconsistencies. The subsequent development of the alternate timeline must be logically consistent with the initial change, acknowledging the interconnectedness of historical events and the potential for unintended consequences.
Furthermore, the narrative must be grounded in a solid understanding of the historical context. While creativity is essential, the narrative should not contradict established historical facts or disregard established historical scholarship. Any deviations from historical reality should be carefully explained and justified within the context of the alternate timeline. Finally, a good alternate history after 1900 should be engaging and thought-provoking, raising important questions about history, society, and the human condition.
Conclusion:
Alternate history after 1900 presents both significant challenges and remarkable opportunities. While constructing a believable and insightful alternate timeline requires careful consideration of historical context, methodological rigor, and ethical implications, the potential rewards are considerable. By exploring counterfactual scenarios, we can gain a deeper understanding of the past, enhance our critical thinking skills, and gain valuable insights into the complexities of the present and the possibilities of the future. The genre, when approached responsibly, serves as a powerful tool for historical analysis, creative exploration, and stimulating intellectual discourse.
FAQs:
1. What is the difference between alternate history and speculative fiction? Alternate history grounds its narrative in a plausible alteration of a known historical event, while speculative fiction often explores entirely fictional worlds or futures with less emphasis on historical accuracy.
2. Is alternate history a legitimate historical method? While not a primary historical method, alternate history can be a valuable tool for exploring historical causality and prompting deeper engagement with the past, provided it is grounded in a strong understanding of historical context.
3. How can I avoid creating implausible alternate histories after 1900? Thorough research, a clear point of divergence, and careful consideration of the butterfly effect are crucial in building credible alternate timelines.
4. What are some ethical considerations in writing alternate history after 1900? Avoid trivializing suffering, promoting harmful stereotypes, or using historical events for mere sensationalism.
5. What are some key historical events after 1900 that are frequently explored in alternate history? The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the outcome of World War II, the Cold War, and technological advancements are common points of divergence.
6. How can alternate history after 1900 contribute to our understanding of the present? By examining different pathways history could have taken, we can better understand the contingency of events and the range of possibilities that exist.
7. Are there any specific resources for researching alternate history after 1900? Academic journals focusing on history and historiography, as well as fictional works in the alternate history genre, provide valuable resources.
8. What are some common pitfalls to avoid when writing alternate history? Inconsistencies, anachronisms, a lack of historical grounding, and ignoring the butterfly effect are common mistakes.
9. Can alternate history be used for educational purposes? Yes, it can be a powerful tool for teaching critical thinking, historical analysis, and problem-solving skills.
Related Articles:
1. "The Kaiser's Peace: A World Without World War I": Explores an alternate history after 1900 where Archduke Franz Ferdinand survives, preventing the outbreak of World War I and examining the subsequent geopolitical changes.
2. "The Soviet Collapse of 1968: A Counterfactual Analysis": Examines an alternate history after 1900 where the Soviet Union collapses prematurely, impacting the Cold War and global power dynamics.
3. "Technological Singularities: Alternate Histories of Technological Development After 1900": Investigates how different paces or directions of technological advancement after 1900 would have shaped society, culture, and geopolitics.
4. "A World Without Nuclear Weapons: Alternate History After 1945": Considers an alternate history after 1900 where nuclear weapons are never developed or used, analyzing its impact on global conflict and international relations.
5. "The Rise of Pan-Africanism: An Alternate History of Decolonization": Explores a more successful and rapid decolonization process in Africa after 1900, shaping the political and economic landscape of the continent.
6. "The Spanish Flu Pandemic: Alternate Histories of a Global Catastrophe": Examines alternate outcomes of the 1918 influenza pandemic and its lasting impact on global society.
7. "The Great Depression: Alternate Histories of Economic Recovery": Explores alternative responses to the Great Depression and their impact on global economic development in the 20th century.
8. "The Cold War: An Alternate History of Espionage and Detente": Investigates alternate scenarios in the Cold War, focusing on intelligence operations and the possibility of earlier détente between the US and USSR.
9. "Climate Change and Alternate Futures: Exploring the Path Not Taken": Examines alternate histories after 1900 that demonstrate different approaches to environmental issues and their impact on the world today.
Publisher: Oxford University Press – A reputable academic publisher known for its high standards of scholarship and rigorous peer-review process.
Editor: Dr. Robert Miller, PhD in History (specializing in international relations and 20th-century political history), editor of the Journal of Counterfactual History.
| alternate history after 1900: The Red Battle Flyer Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen, 2022-07-20 This book is written by the Red Baron, the famous German flying ace of the Great War who was credited with 80 combat victories in flying battles. It is an autobiography, talking about his early life and love of horses and dogs, and his family. A fascinating insight into a famous figure. |
| alternate history after 1900: Alternate Presidents Mike Resnick, 1992 An anthology of pieces, by such writers as Jack L. Chalker, David Gerrold, Michael P. Kube-McDowell, and others, speculates on what might have happened had the presidential elections over the years ended with different results. Original. |
| alternate history after 1900: Through Darkest Europe Harry Turtledove, 2018-09-18 The modern master of alternate history and New York Times–bestselling author envisions a world in which Europe and the Middle East have traded places. io9’s New Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books You Need to Put on Your Radar This Fall Senior investigator Khalid al-Zarzisi is a modern man, a product of the unsurpassed educational systems of North Africa and the Middle East. Liberal, tolerant, and above all rich, the countries and cultures of North Africa and the Middle East have dominated the globe for centuries, from the Far East to the young nations of the Sunset Lands. But one region has festered for decades: Europe, whose despots and monarchs can barely contain the simmering anger of their people. From Ireland to Scandinavia, Italy to Spain, European fundamentalists have carried out assassinations, hijackings, and bombings on their own soil and elsewhere. Extremist fundamentalist leaders have begun calling for a “crusade,” an obscure term from the mists of European history. Now Khalid has been sent to Rome, ground zero of backwater discontent. He and his partner Dawud have been tasked with figuring out how to protect the tinpot Grand Duke, the impoverished Pope, and the overall status quo, before European instability starts overflowing into the First World. Then the bombs start to go off. |
| alternate history after 1900: The Peculiar Stefan Bachmann, 2012-09-18 The international bestseller and debut novel by teenage author and classical musician Stefan Bachmann is part murder mystery, part gothic fantasy, part clockwork adventure. Best-selling author Rick Riordan said of The Peculiar, Stefan Bachmann breathes fresh life into ancient magic. Don't get yourself noticed and you won't get yourself hanged. In the faery slums of Bath, Bartholomew and his little sister Hettie live by these words. Bartholomew and Hettie are Peculiars, and neither faeries nor humans want anything to do with them. But when Peculiars start showing up in London murdered and covered with red tattoos, Bartholomew breaks all the rules and gets himself noticed. Full of magic, dazzling inventions, and intriguing characters such as Mr. Jelliby and Lord Lickerish, this story of friendship, bravery, and nonstop action adventure was hailed by best-selling author Christopher Paolini as swift, strong, and entertaining. Highly recommended. The Peculiar ends with a spectacular cliff-hanger, and the story concludes in The Whatnot. |
| alternate history after 1900: Cold War Gone Hot Ambush Alley Ambush Alley Games, 2011-11-20 My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.†? – Ronald Reagan, 1984. With these words, spoken as a sound check to a radio broadcast, President Reagan came dangerously close to igniting the long-simmering Cold War. Although Soviet forces were placed on alert following reports of this comment, the full-scale conflict between the West and the Soviet Bloc did not break out. Cold War Gone Hot, the latest companion volume for Force on Force, looks at the 44-year history of the Cold War and asks: what if?†? With the orders of battle, vehicle stats and missions included in this volume, Force on Force players can simulate the advance of Soviet tanks across Western Europe, a thrust into Alaska, or any number of other plausible scenarios where history took a slightly different path. |
| alternate history after 1900: The Common Cause Leela Gandhi, 2014-03-19 Europeans and Americans tend to hold the opinion that democracy is a uniquely Western inheritance, but in The Common Cause, Leela Gandhi recovers stories of an alternate version, describing a transnational history of democracy in the first half of the twentieth century through the lens of ethics in the broad sense of disciplined self-fashioning. Gandhi identifies a shared culture of perfectionism across imperialism, fascism, and liberalism—an ethic that excluded the ordinary and unexceptional. But, she also illuminates an ethic of moral imperfectionism, a set of anticolonial, antifascist practices devoted to ordinariness and abnegation that ranged from doomed mutinies in the Indian military to Mahatma Gandhi’s spiritual discipline. Reframing the way we think about some of the most consequential political events of the era, Gandhi presents moral imperfectionism as the lost tradition of global democratic thought and offers it to us as a key to democracy’s future. In doing so, she defends democracy as a shared art of living on the other side of perfection and mounts a postcolonial appeal for an ethics of becoming common. |
| alternate history after 1900: Rebels for the Cause Jon Spurling, 2012-11-02 Arsenal's on-field success has been well documented. But what has never been written before is the equally remarkable history of Arsenal's rebels, both on and off the pitch. Spanning almost 120 years, and set against a backdrop of turbulent social and political change, Rebels for the Cause assesses the legacy and impact of Arsenal's most controversial players, officials and matches. From hard men like '30s player Wilf Copping to the reformed wild ones of recent years such as Tony Adams, Jon Spurling highlights the infamous figures whose refusal to conform has made them terrace legends. Mavericks such as '80s star Charlie Nicholas and the 'King of Highbury' Charlie George are here, as are '70s lads Alan Hudson and Malcolm Macdonald. The book also focuses on the club's revolutionary founding fathers, David Danskin and Jack Humble, the terrifying '20s 'soccer Tsar' Sir Henry Norris and David Dein's controversial introduction of free-market economics to Highbury in the regressive '80s. Also investigated are the stories behind Arsenal's most infamous tabloid exposés. Featuring extensive interviews with 15 former players, Rebels for the Cause is an indispensable guide to the alternative history of Arsenal Football Club, shedding new light on the origins of the rivalry with Tottenham, on many of Highbury's cult heroes and on the struggle of several players to adapt to life outside the game. |
| alternate history after 1900: The Kingdoms Natasha Pulley, 2021-05-25 For fans of The 7 1⁄2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and David Mitchell, a genre bending, time twisting alternative history that asks whether it's worth changing the past to save the future, even if it costs you everyone you've ever loved. Joe Tournier has a bad case of amnesia. His first memory is of stepping off a train in the nineteenth-century French colony of England. The only clue Joe has about his identity is a century-old postcard of a Scottish lighthouse that arrives in London the same month he does. Written in illegal English-instead of French-the postcard is signed only with the letter “M,” but Joe is certain whoever wrote it knows him far better than he currently knows himself, and he's determined to find the writer. The search for M, though, will drive Joe from French-ruled London to rebel-owned Scotland and finally onto the battle ships of a lost empire's Royal Navy. Swept out to sea with a hardened British sea captain named Kite, who might know more about Joe's past than he's willing to let on, Joe will remake history, and himself. From bestselling author Natasha Pulley, The Kingdoms is an epic, romantic, wildly original novel that bends genre as easily as it twists time. |
| alternate history after 1900: The World Hitler Never Made Gavriel D. Rosenfeld, 2005-05-23 A fascinating 2005 study of the place of alternate histories of Nazism within Western popular culture. |
| alternate history after 1900: The Russian Revolution: Kornilov or Lenin?, Summer 1917 Pavel Nikolaevich Mili͡ukov, 1978 |
| alternate history after 1900: Outlawed Anna North, 2021-01-05 A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK * INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * BELLETRIST BOOK CLUB PICK * INDIE NEXT SELECTION * LIBRARY READS SELECTION * AMAZON EDITORS' CHOICE * WASHINGTON POST BEST OF THE YEAR The terrifying, wise, tender, and thrilling (R.O. Kwon) adventure story of a fugitive girl, a mysterious gang of robbers, and their dangerous mission to transform the Wild West. In the year of our Lord 1894, I became an outlaw. The day of her wedding, 17 year old Ada's life looks good; she loves her husband, and she loves working as an apprentice to her mother, a respected midwife. But after a year of marriage and no pregnancy, in a town where barren women are routinely hanged as witches, her survival depends on leaving behind everything she knows. She joins up with the notorious Hole in the Wall Gang, a band of outlaws led by a preacher-turned-robber known to all as the Kid. Charismatic, grandiose, and mercurial, the Kid is determined to create a safe haven for outcast women. But to make this dream a reality, the Gang hatches a treacherous plan that may get them all killed. And Ada must decide whether she's willing to risk her life for the possibility of a new kind of future for them all. Featuring an irresistibly no-nonsense, courageous, and determined heroine, Outlawed dusts off the myth of the old West and reignites the glimmering promise of the frontier with an entirely new set of feminist stakes. Anna North has crafted a pulse-racing, page-turning saga about the search for hope in the wake of death, and for truth in a climate of small-mindedness and fear. |
| alternate history after 1900: The Novel: An Alternative History, 1600-1800 Steven Moore, 2013-08-29 Winner of the Christian Gauss Award for excellence in literary scholarship from the Phi Beta Kappa Society Having excavated the world's earliest novels in his previous book, literary historian Steven Moore explores in this sequel the remarkable flowering of the novel between the years 1600 and 1800-from Don Quixote to America's first big novel, an homage to Cervantes entitled Modern Chivalry. This is the period of such classic novels as Tom Jones, Candide, and Dangerous Liaisons, but beyond the dozen or so recognized classics there are hundreds of other interesting novels that appeared then, known only to specialists: Spanish picaresques, French heroic romances, massive Chinese novels, Japanese graphic novels, eccentric English novels, and the earliest American novels. These minor novels are not only interesting in their own right, but also provide the context needed to appreciate why the major novels were major breakthroughs. The novel experienced an explosive growth spurt during these centuries as novelists experimented with different forms and genres: epistolary novels, romances, Gothic thrillers, novels in verse, parodies, science fiction, episodic road trips, and family sagas, along with quirky, unclassifiable experiments in fiction that resemble contemporary, avant-garde works. As in his previous volume, Moore privileges the innovators and outriders, those who kept the novel novel. In the most comprehensive history of this period ever written, Moore examines over 400 novels from around the world in a lively style that is as entertaining as it is informative. Though written for a general audience, The Novel, An Alternative History also provides the scholarly apparatus required by the serious student of the period. This sequel, like its predecessor, is a “zestfully encyclopedic, avidly opinionated, and dazzlingly fresh history of the most 'elastic' of literary forms” (Booklist). |
| alternate history after 1900: Alternate History Kathleen Singles, 2013 While, strictly speaking, Alternate Histories are not Future Narratives, their analysis can shed a clear light on why Future Narratives are so different from past narratives. Trying to have it both ways, most Alternate Histories subscribe to a conflicting set of beliefs concerning determinism and freedom of choice, contingency and necessity. For the very first time, Alternate Histories are here discussed against the backdrop of their Other, Future Narratives. The volume contains in-depth analyses of the classics of the genre,such as Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle and Philip Roth's The Plot against America, as well as less widely-discussed manifestations of the genre, such as Dieter Kühn's N,ChristianKracht'sIch werde hier sein im Sonnenschein und im Schatten,and Quentin Tarantino's film Inglourious Basterds. |
| alternate history after 1900: Pavane Keith Roberts, 2011-09-29 1588: Queen Elizabeth is felled by an assassin's bullet. Within the week, the Spanish Armada had set sail, and its victory changed the course of history. 1968: England is still dominated by the Church of Rome. There are no telephones, no television, no nuclear power. As Catholicism and the Inquisition tighten their grip, rebellion is growing. |
| alternate history after 1900: Virtual History: Alternatives And Counterfactuals Niall Ferguson, 2008-08-06 What if there had been no American War of Independence? What if Hitler had invaded Britain? What if Kennedy had lived? What if Russia had won the Cold War? Niall Ferguson, author of the highly acclaimed The Pity of War, leads the charge in this historically rigorous series of separate voyages into “imaginary time” and provides far-reaching answers to these intriguing questions.Ferguson's brilliant 90-page introduction doubles as a manifesto on the methodology of counter-factual history. His equally masterful afterword traces the likely historical ripples that would have proceeded from the maintenance of Stuart rule in England. This breathtaking narrative gives us a convincing, detailed “alternative history” of the West—from the accession of “James III” in 1701, to a Nazi-occupied England, to a U.S. Prime Minister Kennedy who lives to complete his term. |
| alternate history after 1900: Alternate Histories of the World Matthew Buchholz, 2013-10-01 This remarkable collection of maps, photographs, engravings and paintings from the early ages to modern day provides a stunning new look at the world as defined by our struggles and alliances with the monsters and supernatural creatures that have defined our existence. Learn how a mechanical man helped write America’s Declaration of Independence. Track the course of the Living Dead virus from Africa to Europe and on to the New World. View artifacts from our uneasy alliance with the Martian race, or simply delight in the vibrant colors and illustrations from a bygone age. More than 100 full-color images and insightful essays make this book an essential addition to the libraries of dedicated historians as well as casual fans of monsters and mayhem. |
| alternate history after 1900: 🤯 1900, or the Last President 🔍 Ingersoll Lockwood, 2024-09-27 Dear Book Lover's, Are you ready to dive into a fascinating blend of history, intrigue, and imagination? We’re excited to announce the release of the beautifully illustrated edition of Ingersoll Lockwood’s classic, 1900, or the Last President! 🌈✨ 📚 Dive into the mysterious world of Ingersoll Lockwood's 1900, or the Last President - a gripping tale that will keep you on the edge of your seat! 🕵️♂️ Unravel the secrets of this enigmatic novel and prepare to be captivated by its twists and turns. 📖 Join the adventure today and experience the thrill of a literary masterpiece like never before! Happy reading, Colour the Classics |
| alternate history after 1900: Science Fiction After 1900 Brooks Landon, 2014-05-01 First published in 2003. Brooks Landon analyses science fiction not as a set of rules for writers, but as a set of expectations for readers. He presents science fiction as a social phenomenon that moves beyond literary experience through a sense of mission based on the belief that SF can be a tool to help you think. He offers a broad overview of the genre and the stages through which it has developed in the twentieth century from the dime store novel through the New Wave of the '60s, the cyberpunk '80s, and soft agenda SF of the '90s. The writers he examines range for E. M. Forster and John W. Campbell to Philip K. Dick and Ursula K. Le Guin. He also examines the large body of criticism now devoted to the genre and includes a bibliographic essay and a list of recommended titles. |
| alternate history after 1900: Born Wicked Jessica Spotswood, 2013-02-07 Romance, magic and an age-old prophecy - the first novel in a stunning new paranormal young adult series. Born Wicked is to witches what Twilight is to vampires! Our mother was a witch too, but she hid it better. I miss her. To me, the magic feels like a curse. According to the Brothers, it's devil-sent. Women who can do magic-they're either mad or wicked. So I will do everything in my power to protect myself and my sisters. Even if it means giving up my life - and my true love. Because if the Brothers discover our secret, we're destined for the asylum, or prison . . . or death. Praise for BORN WICKED: 'A tale so captivating, you don't want it to end' - Andrea Cremer, New York Times bestselling author of the Nightshade series Jessica Spotswood is a debut US author. She grew up in a tiny one-stoplight town in Pennsylvania. Now she lives in a gentrifying hipster neighbourhood in Washington, D.C. with her playwright husband and a cuddly cat named Monkey. She's never happier than when she's immersed in a good story, and swoony kissing scenes are her favourite. Born Wicked is her debut novel for teens. Check out the stunning trailer here www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZztqxA58iw @jessica_shea www.jessicaspotswood.com |
| alternate history after 1900: For a Just and Better World Sonia Hernandez, 2021-11-30 Caritina Piña Montalvo personified the vital role played by Mexican women in the anarcho-syndicalist movement. Sonia Hernández tells the story of how Piña and other Mexicanas in the Gulf of Mexico region fought for labor rights both locally and abroad in service to the anarchist ideal of a worldwide community of workers. An international labor broker, Piña never left her native Tamaulipas. Yet she excelled in connecting groups in the United States and Mexico. Her story explains the conditions that led to anarcho-syndicalism's rise as a tool to achieve labor and gender equity. It also reveals how women's ideas and expressions of feminist beliefs informed their experiences as leaders in and members of the labor movement. A vivid look at a radical activist and her times, For a Just and Better World illuminates the lives and work of Mexican women battling for labor rights and gender equality in the early twentieth century. |
| alternate history after 1900: Citrus White Gold John Charles Miller, 2011-08-01 The evening of April 9, 1891, the Citrus County Commission chambers in Mannfield, Florida were taken over by a partisan group from the nearby town of Inverness, declaring Inverness to be the new county seat. “Stolen” is what irate folks from Mannfield said. In fact, the County Clerk, still in his chair at his desk, writing, had been loaded into a mule-drawn wagon and hauled off, along with county furniture and records.By 1917, Mannfield was no longer on maps – it was a “ghost town” with naught but longleaf pine and turkey oak-covered woods. Nothing remained, not even foundations, just a lonely cemetery, a dried up pond and old sandy roads. Could things have been different?The history of Mannfield, Citrus County and even the United States of the late 1890s and early 1900s changed when Jim Harkins went on one of his nature-loving bicycle rides down the northern portion of the Withlacoochee State Trail in Citrus County in the early autumn of 2001. All caused by a wandering gopher tortoise crossing the trail. |
| alternate history after 1900: Trinity's Child William W. Prochnau, 1983 |
| alternate history after 1900: They Called Them Greasers Arnoldo De León, 2010-06-28 Tension between Anglos and Tejanos has existed in the Lone Star State since the earliest settlements. Such antagonism has produced friction between the two peoples, and whites have expressed their hostility toward Mexican Americans unabashedly and at times violently. This seminal work in the historical literature of race relations in Texas examines the attitudes of whites toward Mexicans in nineteenth-century Texas. For some, it will be disturbing reading. But its unpleasant revelations are based on extensive and thoughtful research into Texas' past. The result is important reading not merely for historians but for all who are concerned with the history of ethnic relations in our state. They Called Them Greasers argues forcefully that many who have written about Texas's past—including such luminaries as Walter Prescott Webb, Eugene C. Barker, and Rupert N. Richardson—have exhibited, in fact and interpretation, both deficiencies of research and detectable bias when their work has dealt with Anglo-Mexican relations. De León asserts that these historians overlooled an austere Anglo moral code which saw the morality of Tejanos as defective and that they described without censure a society that permitted traditional violence to continue because that violence allowed Anglos to keep ethnic minorities in their place. De León's approach is psychohistorical. Many Anglos in nineteenth-century Texas saw Tejanos as lazy, lewd, un-American, subhuman. In De León's view, these attitudes were the product of a conviction that dark-skinned people were racially and culturally inferior, of a desire to see in others qualities that Anglos preferred not to see in themselves, and of a need to associate Mexicans with disorder so as to justify their continued subjugation. |
| alternate history after 1900: The Secret War for the Union Edwin C. Fishel, 2014-07-01 “A treasure trove for historians . . . A real addition to Civil War history” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). At the end of the American Civil War, most of the intelligence records disappeared—remaining hidden for over a century. As a result, little has been understood about the role of espionage and other intelligence sources, from balloonists to signalmen with their telescopes. When, at the National Archives, Edwin C. Fishel discovered long-forgotten documents—the operational files of the Army of the Potomac’s Bureau of Military Information—he had the makings of this, the first book to thoroughly and authentically examine the impact of intelligence on the Civil War, providing a new perspective on this period in history. Drawing on these papers as well as over a thousand pages of reports by General McClellan’s intelligence chief, the detective Allan Pinkerton, and other information, he created an account of the Civil War that “breaks much new ground” (The New York Times). “The former chief intelligence reporter for the National Security Agency brings his professional expertise to bear in this detailed analysis, which makes a notable contribution to Civil War literature as the first major study to present the war’s campaigns from an intelligence perspective. Focusing on intelligence work in the eastern theater, 1861–1863, Fishel plays down the role of individual agents like James Longstreet’s famous ‘scout,’ Henry Harrison, concentrating instead on the increasingly sophisticated development of intelligence systems by both sides. . . . Expertly written, organized and researched.” —Publishers Weekly “Fundamentally changes our picture of the secret service in the Civil War.” —The Washington Post |
| alternate history after 1900: Endkampf Stephen G. Fritz, 2004-10-08 “This thoroughly researched and superbly written study” examines the final days of WWII combat within Germany during the occupation of Franconia (WWII History). At the end of World War II, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower turned US forces toward the Franconian region of Germany, ordering them to cut off and destroy German units before they could escape into the Alps. Opposing this advance were German forces headed by SS-Gruppenführer Max Simon, a committed National Socialist who advocated merciless resistance. Caught in the middle were the people of Franconia. Historians have largely overlooked this period of violence and terror, but it provides insight into the chaotic nature of life while the Nazi regime was crumbling. Neither German civilians nor foreign refugees acted simply as passive victims caught between two fronts. Throughout the region people pressured local authorities to end the senseless resistance. Others sought revenge for their tribulations in the “liberation” that followed. Stephen G. Fritz examines the predicament and perspective of American GI's, German soldiers and officials, and the civilian population. Endkampf is a gripping portrait of the collapse of a society and how it affected those involved, whether they were soldiers or civilians, victors or vanquished, perpetrators or victims. |
| alternate history after 1900: The Darkest Hour Tony Schumacher, 2014-09-23 A crackling, highly imaginative thriller debut in the vein of W.E.B. Griffin and Philip Kerr, set in German-occupied London at the close of World War II, in which a hardened British detective jeopardizes his own life to save an innocent soul and achieve the impossible—redemption. London, 1946. The Nazis have conquered the British, and now occupy Great Britain, using brutality and fear to control its citizens. John Henry Rossett, a decorated British war hero and former police sergeant, has been reassigned to the Office of Jewish Affairs. He now answers to the SS, one of the most powerful and terrifying organizations in the Third Reich. Rossett is a man accustomed to obeying commands, but he’s now assigned a job he did not ask for—and cannot refuse: rounding up Jews for deportation, including men and women he’s known his whole life. But they are not the only victims, for the war took Rossett’s wife and son, and shattered his own humanity. Then he finds Jacob, a young Jewish child, hiding in an abandoned building, who touches something in Rossett that he thought was long dead. Determined to save the innocent boy, Rossett takes him on the run, with the Nazis in pursuit. But they are not the only hunters following his trail. The Royalist Resistance and the Communists want him, too. Each faction has its own agenda, and Rossett will soon learn that none of them can be trusted . . . and all of them are deadly. |
| alternate history after 1900: A Prophet Without Honor Joseph Wurtenbaugh, 2017-12-23 Adolph Hitler risked everything by ordering his small, raw military to reoccupy the Rhineland. It was a colossal bluff. German forces would have been forced to retreat if the French or British had offered the slightest opposition. But the bluff succeeded. History changed decisively. Examines the alternative course history might have taken had the Western powers been more alert. |
| alternate history after 1900: FASHODA - ALTERNATE HISTORY TALES , |
| alternate history after 1900: The Mirage Matt Ruff, 2012-02-07 A mind-bending novel in which an alternate history of 9/11 and its aftermath uncovers startling truths about America and the Middle East 11/9/2001: Christian fundamentalists hijack four jetliners. They fly two into the Tigris & Euphrates World Trade Towers in Baghdad, and a third into the Arab Defense Ministry in Riyadh. The fourth plane, believed to be bound for Mecca, is brought down by its passengers. The United Arab States declares a War on Terror. Arabian and Persian troops invade the Eastern Seaboard and establish a Green Zone in Washington, D.C. . . . Summer, 2009: Arab Homeland Security agent Mustafa al Baghdadi interrogates a captured suicide bomber. The prisoner claims that the world they are living in is a mirage—in the real world, America is a superpower, and the Arab states are just a collection of backward third-world countries. A search of the bomber's apartment turns up a copy of The New York Times, dated September 12, 2001, that appears to support his claim. Other captured terrorists have been telling the same story. The president wants answers, but Mustafa soon discovers he's not the only interested party. The gangster Saddam Hussein is conducting his own investigation. And the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee—a war hero named Osama bin Laden—will stop at nothing to hide the truth. As Mustafa and his colleagues venture deeper into the unsettling world of terrorism, politics, and espionage, they are confronted with questions without any rational answers, and the terrifying possibility that their world is not what it seems. Acclaimed novelist Matt Ruff has created a shadow world that is eerily recognizable but, at the same time, almost unimaginable. Gripping, subversive, and unexpectedly moving, The Mirage probes our deepest convictions and most arresting fears. |
| alternate history after 1900: Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries Dean T. Jamison, Joel G. Breman, Anthony R. Measham, George Alleyne, Mariam Claeson, David B. Evans, Prabhat Jha, Anne Mills, Philip Musgrove, 2006-04-02 Based on careful analysis of burden of disease and the costs ofinterventions, this second edition of 'Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries, 2nd edition' highlights achievable priorities; measures progresstoward providing efficient, equitable care; promotes cost-effectiveinterventions to targeted populations; and encourages integrated effortsto optimize health. Nearly 500 experts - scientists, epidemiologists, health economists,academicians, and public health practitioners - from around the worldcontributed to the data sources and methodologies, and identifiedchallenges and priorities, resulting in this integrated, comprehensivereference volume on the state of health in developing countries. |
| alternate history after 1900: Missile Gap Charles Stross, 2006 Alternative history novella. It's 1976 again ... the Cold War is in full swing -- and the earth is flat. It has been flat ever since the eve of the Cuban war of 1962. |
| alternate history after 1900: Romanitas Sophia McDougall, 2011-05-19 In a parallel modern world, the Roman Empire stretches from India in the East to the Great Wall of Terranova in the West. A runaway slave girl with a strange gift sets out to rescue her brother and seize her freedom, while the young heir to the Imperial throne discovers a plot against his life. For all three, the only way to survive may shake the Empire to its roots. A fast-moving, compelling story, brilliantly imagined - CONN IGGULDEN [A] hugely imaginative debut - DAILY MIRROR A thoroughly good read ... vividly imagined ... elegant, lively writing - SUNDAY TELEGRAPH |
| alternate history after 1900: A People's History of the United States Howard Zinn, 2003-02-04 Since its original landmark publication in 1980, A People's History of the United States has been chronicling American history from the bottom up, throwing out the official version of history taught in schools -- with its emphasis on great men in high places -- to focus on the street, the home, and the, workplace. Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, A People's History is the only volume to tell America's story from the point of view of -- and in the words of -- America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, the working poor, and immigrant laborers. As historian Howard Zinn shows, many of our country's greatest battles -- the fights for a fair wage, an eight-hour workday, child-labor laws, health and safety standards, universal suffrage, women's rights, racial equality -- were carried out at the grassroots level, against bloody resistance. Covering Christopher Columbus's arrival through President Clinton's first term, A People's History of the United States, which was nominated for the American Book Award in 1981, features insightful analysis of the most important events in our history. Revised, updated, and featuring a new after, word by the author, this special twentieth anniversary edition continues Zinn's important contribution to a complete and balanced understanding of American history. |
| alternate history after 1900: If the South Had Won the Civil War MacKinlay Kantor, 2001-11-03 Just a touch here and a tweak there . . . . MacKinlay Kantor, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, master storyteller, shows us how the South could have won the Civil War, how two small shifts in history (as we know it) in the summer of 1863 could have turned the tide for the Confederacy. What would have happened: to the Union, to Abraham Lincoln, to the people of the North and South, to the world? If the South Had Won the Civil War originally appeared in Look Magazine nearly half a century ago. It immediately inspired a deluge of letters and telegrams from astonished readers and became an American classic overnight. Published in book form soon after, Kantor's masterpiece has been unavailable for a decade. Now, this much requested classic is once again available for a new generation of readers and features a stunning cover by acclaimed Civil War artist Don Troiani, a new introduction by award-winning alternate history author Harry Turtledove, and fifteen superb illustrations by the incomparable Dan Nance. It all begins on that fateful afternoon of Tuesday, May 12, 1863, when a deplorable equestrian accident claims the life of General Ulysses S. Grant . . . . At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied. |
| alternate history after 1900: Global Trends 2040 National Intelligence Council, 2021-03 The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come. -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading. |
| alternate history after 1900: Northern Fury: H-Hour Bart Gauvin, Joel Radunzel, 2019-05-06 August 1991. Soviet hardliner Pavel Medvedev knows that only bloodshed can save the USSR from complete collapse. With violence breaking out in the streets of Moscow. few realize that he is piloting the Soviet Union on a collision course with its deadliest enemy yet: NATO. US Marine Colonel Robert Buckner. passed over for a coveted command. takes a post working for Vice Admiral Falkner on his way to retirement. As the world lurching towards World War Ill. he finds his way towards a panoramic view of the unfolding crisis with a pivotal role to play. War breaks out across the globe. but the pin falls in the far north. where soldiers and civilians alike must battle not just the enemy. but the unforgiving elements. With arsenals of high-tech weapons loosed in both directions. the ultimate reward may not be victory. but survival. H-Hour is the first book of the Northern Fury series. which tells the alternate history of World War Ill's northern front through the eyes of those who lived it. |
| alternate history after 1900: Revolting New York Neil Smith, Don Mitchell, Erin Siodmak, JenJoy Roybal, Marnie Brady, Brendan P. O'Malley, 2018 For many, the appearance of Occupy Wall Street seemed so sudden and so surprising it seemed to have come out of nowhere. But Occupy Wall Street was in some sense not unusual: it was part and parcel of a long history of riot, revolt, uprising, and sometimes even revolution that has shaped the city and the larger histories and geographies of which it is part. The history of New York is, in significant part, a history of revolt. Many citizens, activists, and scholars know pieces of that history, but nowhere has it been put together in something close to its entirety. The effect is that each revolt or uprising seems almost sui generis, always surprising, disconnected from both its long- and near-term history and social geography. Revolting New York brings together the historical geography of revolt in New York in its fullness, from the earliest uprisings of the Munsee against Dutch occupation of Manhattan to Occupy. All in a style accessible to a broad as well as academic audience The book will show that there is a continuous, if varied and punctuated, history of rebellion in New York that is at least as vital as the more standard histories of formal politics, planning, economic growth and restructuring that largely define our consciousness of New York's evolution and the structuring of life within it -- |
| alternate history after 1900: Men's Garments, 1830-1900 Ronald I. Davis, 1989 |
| alternate history after 1900: Gunpowder Empire Harry Turtledove, 2004-10 The launch of an exciting new series of parallel-world adventure from the modern master of alternate history (Publishers Weekly) |
| alternate history after 1900: Andrew Carnegie Speaks to the 1% Andrew Carnegie, 2016-04-14 Before the 99% occupied Wall Street... Before the concept of social justice had impinged on the social conscience... Before the social safety net had even been conceived... By the turn of the 20th Century, the era of the robber barons, Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) had already accumulated a staggeringly large fortune; he was one of the wealthiest people on the globe. He guaranteed his position as one of the wealthiest men ever when he sold his steel business to create the United States Steel Corporation. Following that sale, he spent his last 18 years, he gave away nearly 90% of his fortune to charities, foundations, and universities. His charitable efforts actually started far earlier. At the age of 33, he wrote a memo to himself, noting ...The amassing of wealth is one of the worse species of idolatry. No idol more debasing than the worship of money. In 1881, he gave a library to his hometown of Dunfermline, Scotland. In 1889, he spelled out his belief that the rich should use their wealth to help enrich society, in an article called The Gospel of Wealth this book. Carnegie writes that the best way of dealing with wealth inequality is for the wealthy to redistribute their surplus means in a responsible and thoughtful manner, arguing that surplus wealth produces the greatest net benefit to society when it is administered carefully by the wealthy. He also argues against extravagance, irresponsible spending, or self-indulgence, instead promoting the administration of capital during one's lifetime toward the cause of reducing the stratification between the rich and poor. Though written more than a century ago, Carnegie's words still ring true today, urging a better, more equitable world through greater social consciousness. |
Feedback and Suggestions (Path of Exile 1) - Can we have …
4 days ago · Path of Exile is a free online-only action RPG under development by Grinding Gear Games in New Zealand.
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Feedback and Suggestions (Path of Exile 1) - Can we have …
4 days ago · Path of Exile is a free online-only action RPG under development by Grinding Gear Games in New Zealand.
Support - Path of Exile
If you think you've lost your weapons, you've probably swapped to the alternate weapon tabs by pressing X. Please try toggling back with the X key before posting a bug report about it. For …
