15 worthwhile books in the genre of alternative history

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

What if Germany had won World War II, America had been discovered by the British, and President Kennedy had not been shot.

As you know, history has no subjunctive mood. Everything that once happened cannot be changed. And only art allows us to imagine what could have happened if at important moments in history humanity had made other decisions.

1. "The Last and First Men: A History of the Near and Distant Future", Olaf Stapledon

The book is written on behalf of the representative of the Eighteenth era of people living in the distant future on Neptune. He tells the entire history of the world from its creation to inevitable death: about human eras and important turning points in history.

Stapledon's book is considered one of the most detailed "stories of the future." Moreover, talking about the first era of people, he means the current civilization. And since the novel was written in 1930, it is now possible to compare the author's fantasies about the near future with current realities.

2. 1984 by George Orwell

The action takes place in 1984 in London. The huge country of Oceania lives in a totalitarian regime and is constantly at war with its neighbors. It forbids free relationships and even careless thoughts that discredit the party and its supreme leader - Big Brother.

In this world, Winston Smith has a rash romance with his colleague. Love is the only resistance they can put up with a cruel order. But Big Brother is watching everyone tirelessly.

The famous dystopia, written back in the late forties, still does not lose its relevance. In the description of the world "1984" it is easy to recognize both the cult of Stalin and allusions to other totalitarian regimes of that time. But the idea of widespread surveillance and mass news fraud still looks hot.

3. "The Man in the High Castle" by Philip Dick

After the assassination of US President Franklin Roosevelt, the country never got away from the Great Depression and did not support its allies in World War II. As a result, Nazi Germany and Japan were victorious.

The book tells about the life of various segments of the US population years after the Nazis established their dictatorship almost all over the world. And in the center of the plot - the search for the author of the mysterious book "And the locusts will eat", which tells what the world could be like if Hitler had lost.

The famous science fiction writer Philip Dick is known to many for his novels, close in spirit to cyberpunk and other "mind games". Here, he not only created an excellent example of an alternative history, but also showed that in this version of events, our ordinary world can just as well be someone's invention.

4. "Hell, or the Joy of Passion", Vladimir Nabokov

Van and Ada live on Anti-Terra (Earth's antipode). Here the world was taken over by the English-speaking countries. The eastern hemisphere is owned by the British Empire, and the western hemisphere is owned by Estotia, an alliance of the United States and Russia. At the same time, part of the real lands of the latter is occupied by the Golden Horde.

And in the center of the plot is the story of the strange love of Van and Ada, which they carried through many years - from early childhood to adulthood - through prohibitions and hardships.

The famous author of Lolita has been writing Hell for over 10 years. As a result, he created a work where eroticism and themes of forbidden love are combined with philosophy and fantasy. Many consider this book to be Nabokov's most complex and profound work.

5. “Long live the Transatlantic Tunnel! Hurray! ", Harry Garrison

Once an English citizen John Cabot discovered the American continent. And the Spaniards, who remained under the influence of Muslims, did not begin to develop other continents. American colonists were unable to gain independence. George Washington was executed as a traitor, and the British Empire took over both American continents.

In the early seventies, one of the descendents of the failed president, Gus Washington, is trying to build the Transatlantic Tunnel that would connect America to Europe.

The American Garrison skillfully played on the fundamental theme for the United States - independence from Britain. And at the same time, he was able to weave into the story the idea of the tunnel, which was first proposed by Michel Verne, the son of the famous Jules Verne.

6. "Crimea Island", Vasily Aksyonov

During the Civil War, detachments of whites managed to retreat and settle on the island of Crimea, which is located in the Black Sea. They separated from the USSR and built their own state there, maintaining neutrality even during the Second World War.

Years later, the island of Crimea is significantly ahead of the Soviet Union in development, but the main character - the editor of the local newspaper Andrei Luchnikov - is obsessed with the idea of a "common destiny" and tries to convince the rest to join the big country.

Vasily Aksyonov came up with an alternative version of history with only one assumption - Crimea is an island here. From this grew a satirical novel about the development of the country, which, by an evil irony, is now read in a completely different way.

7. The Difference Machine by Bruce Sterling and William Gibson

In the 19th century, Charles Babbage (the real inventor of the first computing machine) built the first analog computer on the basis of his apparatus. And from that moment on, the story went completely differently. This is a world where everyone travels in steam vehicles, and ferry computers with punched cards regularly break into clappers.

In such realities, the life of several heroes unfolds. All of them are united by the mysterious "Modus" program, which can enrich its owner.

Cyberpunk masters Bruce Sterling and William Gibson masterfully changed the direction of their work, deciding to talk not about the future and computer networks, but about an alternative history in the spirit of steampunk. It turned out to be a leisurely, but very deep work with a detective plot.

8. "Vaterland", Robert Harris

Nazi Germany won World War II, hid the extermination of the Jews and, along with the United States, became a superpower. In 1964, Adolf Hitler celebrates his 75th birthday and signs a peace treaty with the President of America.

Meanwhile, SS Criminal Police Investigator Xavier Marsh investigates a series of murders and finds evidence of Jewish genocide.

The novel by Englishman Robert Harris instantly became a bestseller. It has been translated into dozens of languages and is sold in millions of copies worldwide. In this book, the author has successfully combined the atmosphere of a typical noir detective story with the idea of an alternative history.

9. Series "River Chronos", Kir Bulychev

The main characters of the cycle are Andrei Berestov and Lydia Ivanitskaya. After the death of his stepfather, Andrei inherits pocket devices that allow him to move forward in time. However, they can throw a person both into the real future and into “offshoots” where history develops differently. Throughout the books, the heroes witness various historical events and investigate various crimes.

In the unfinished series, Bulychev experimented with interesting genres. The first books in the cycle are science fiction about alternative history, while the others are simple detective stories, where world events take place only in the background. But nevertheless, he showed some turns of world history very unexpectedly.

10. How to Make History by Stephen Fry

English graduate student Michael Young is writing a dissertation on Hitler's rise to power. And at the same time, he meets Professor Leo Zuckerman, who invented a device for moving objects in time. Together they send a drug at the time of the conception of the future dictator, which will not allow Hitler to be born.

After that, Michael finds himself in a different version of the present, where Nazi Germany is led by a more calculating leader who managed to win the war. But as a result, the situation in the world has only gotten worse. And Michael himself turned from a British into an American.

Stephen Fry in this book, with satirical exaggeration, talks about the problems of real history and society. He raises the topics of genocide, homophobia, racism and many other problems that could not be eradicated not only in the alternative world, but also in ours.

11. "In the Land of the Blind," Michael Francis Flynn

Journalist Sarah Beaumont finds a piece of paper with important names and events in human history. And this find leads her to a secret society, which has been influencing the life of the whole world for many years.

And there is nothing supernatural in this. Members of society simply know when and how to give people this or that idea so that it gets to the masses and begins to develop.

This book is often criticized for the simplicity of the detective plot. Indeed, from a certain moment, there is practically no intrigue left in it. But the idea that the masses are very susceptible to outside influence, and it is enough to generate some directions in time to change history, is described very well.

12. "Heart of Parma", Alexey Ivanov

The plot tells about the life of the Russian lands of the 15th century, however, dating here is conducted from the creation of the world. The main part of the book is focused on the struggle of different princes and peoples for Perm.

Alexey Ivanov's novel grew out of his hobbies for local lore. He decided to combine the historical principle with legends and myths, as a result of which the book turned out not to be a purely historical epic, but rather a fantasy on the theme of past events.

In addition, it is written in an unusual language, in which Slavic, Finno-Ugric and Turkic words slip through, which helps to immerse oneself in the atmosphere of the book as deeply as possible.

13. "Option" Bis "" Sergey Anisimov

In 1944, an attempt on Hitler's life was successful, and Germany soon signed a peace treaty with the Allies. But the USSR continues to advance, and then Britain and the United States go to war with the Soviet troops.

A separate merit of this book is its technical elaboration. Ships and airplanes of the times of the war are described here clearly and in detail, and therefore a feeling of complete realism of what is happening is created. Moreover, such an alternative version of history looks quite plausible.

14. "11/22/63" Stephen King

Teacher Jake Epping gets an amazing opportunity to fix history - to prevent the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963. But the portal takes him to 1958, and Jake needs to live in the past for 5 years.

During this time, he finds himself an assistant and even meets his love. But time itself is trying with all its might to prevent him from breaking the story, and Jake is constantly faced with all sorts of difficulties.

Stephen King took another important historical moment. Initially, he planned to focus more on the alternative development of the world after the rescue of Kennedy. But in the process of work I plunged into the study of real history, and therefore the book looks more like an atmospheric memory of the life of the sixties.

However, the ending still shows what the world could become if Kennedy survived. In the afterword, King states that he consulted with experts on this part.

15. "Telluria", Vladimir Sorokin

The novel consists of practically unrelated chapters. They tell about the future of Europe, where quite understandable changes and the emergence of centaurs and giants are combined. The only thing that unites the whole action is the superdrug tellurium.

The book of one of the most famous contemporary Russian authors immediately attracted close attention. Sorokin, in his traditional ironic and rude manner, fantasizes about the future and clearly hints at the present.

After the release "Telluria" received several prestigious literary awards, it was even called the pinnacle of the writer's work.