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Title: What If?: The World's Foremost Military Historians Imagine What Might Have Been by Robert Cowley, Stephen E. Ambrose, John Keegan ISBN: 0-425-17642-8 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: 12 September, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.85 (95 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Have You Ever Wondered?
Comment: What if George Washington had been captured on Long Island in 1776 and summarily executed by the British?? What if Robert E. Lee and his forces had achieved a decisive victory at Gettysburg in 1862? What if the Normandy Invasion (D Day) had failed in 1944? Your guess is as good as mine but the guesses of eminent historians are much better. Specifically, David McCullough, James M. McPherson, and Stephen E. Ambrose, respectively, who ask "What if?" in reference to these key situations in military history. Others speculate on, for example, "The Immolation of Hernan Cortes" (1521), "The Repulse of the British Fireships" (1588), "How Hitler Could Have Won" (1941), and "China Without Tears" (1946). Robert Crowley has done a masterful job of editing this anthology of essays. You may disagree with many of the answers to the repeatedly asked question "What if?" but I am certain you will be entertained as well as informed while reading this splendid book. My hunch is that the eminent historians had at least as much much fun formulating their speculations as readers now have when sharing them.
Rating: 4
Summary: "What If" you bought this book?
Comment: As you already know after considering the book, this is a series of counterfactuals - the "What Ifs" of historical events. The focus is on military events and run from 480 BC to the Chinese Communist revolution of the late 1940s. Roughly one-third of the writings focus on world history prior to 1830 (Greek warfare, Napoleon wins at Waterloo), one-third on American history (Revolution - Civil War) and one third 1900 World History (WWI - Cold War). Each counterfactual is authored by respected historians including Stephen Ambrose (whose contribution is surprisingly weak), James McPherson, Cecelia Holland and Stephen Sears. There is also a series of interesting, smaller, one to two page articles spread out through the book.
The authors take various approaches to the challenge. Some launch into intriguing 'what ifs' and their consequences. These include the impact of Alexander the Great's pre-mature death, ways the American Revolution could have easily failed and what if the Battle of Midway had been won by Japan. Other authors take a different approach of only reviewing how events could have been different or how variants were avoided, but they never discuss the impact of the alternative event. This is the only weakness of the book in my opinion. Most articles joyfully carry through on the full description of how events could have differed and how the world would be different if they had turned out this way. For example, would Lincoln have negotiated peace with the Confederacy if Lee's orders for Sharpsburg had not fallen into McClellan's hands allowing the South to win this battle?
Finally, the scenarios are relatively realistic. There are no discussions of 'what would have happened if the Americans had automatic weapons in 1776...' The articles are very interesting for historians and those interested in military history. The broad discussions and topics also make the reading captivating and easy to read. Each article is less than 15-20 pages long, so you won't have to read "war & peace" to cover the topic. Enjoy!
Rating: 3
Summary: Take your time
Comment: I've been a history buff my whole life, and as an adult I became one of those people who naturally looks for different ways to do the same old thing. So I easily assumed that this fun "what if" genre of looking at history would be fascinating to me.
And I was right, at least at first.
But over time, reading this book wore me down. That isn't a criticism of any essay in particular: I think that several -- such as Lewis Lapham's exploration into the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, Thomas Fleming's piece about how the American Revolution Could have been lost, and John Keegan's view on how Hitler's war could have been won -- are particularly strong. But like certain kinds of desert, what started out as a tasty indulgence just became too much to enjoy.
We've all had the experience of sitting next to a know-it-all guest at some dinner party, someone who has an unusual explanation for everything and who won't listen to anything or anyone who doesn't support what he thinks. That mind-numbing feeling is the similar to the one I had after reading a few of these essays in a row.
Does that mean you shouldn't buy this book? No, not necessarily. But if you do buy it, my suggestion would be to take it in stages. Read an essay or two and then switch to something else, and then come back to it. As for me, the purchase What If 2?, which once seemed assured, will have to wait a while.
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Title: What If? 2: Eminent Historians Imagine What Might Have Been by Robert Cowley ISBN: 042518613X Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: October, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: What Ifs? of American History: Eminent Historians Imagine What Might Have Been by Antony Beevor, Calebert Carr, Robert Dallek, John Lukacs, Jay Winik, Robert Cowley, Caleb Carr ISBN: 0399150919 Publisher: Putnam Pub Group Pub. Date: 16 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: The Best Alternate History Stories of the 20th Century by Harry Turtledove, Martin Harry Greenberg ISBN: 0345439902 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 02 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: Almost America : From the Colonists to Clinton: a "What If" History of the U.S. by Steve Tally ISBN: 0380800918 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 21 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: If The South Had Won The Civil War by Harry Turtledove, Dan Nance, MacKinlay Kantor ISBN: 0312869495 Publisher: Forge Pub. Date: 03 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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