Gourt > Society > History > By Topic > Alternative History
- ''For the technical term used in historiography, see alternative history.
Alternate history or alternative history is a subgenre of speculative fiction (or some would say of science fiction) that is set in a world in which history has diverged from history as it is generally known; more simply put, alternate history asks the question, "What if history had developed differently?" Most works in this genre are set in real historical contexts, yet feature social, geopolitical or industrial circumstances that developed differently or at a different pace from our own. While to some extent all fiction can be described as alternate history, the subgenre proper comprises fiction in which a change or point of divergence happens that causes history to diverge from our own.
Since the 1950s this type of fiction has to a large extent merged with science fictional framings involving (a) cross-time, or paratime, travel between alternate histories/universes (or some kind of psychic awareness of the existence of "our" universe by the people in the other, as in Nabokov and Dick; see below); or (b) ordinary voyaging uptime or downtime that results in a world splitting into two or more new timelines. So close have the cross-time, time-splitting and alternate history themes been interwoven that it is impossible to discuss them fully apart from one another. Thus, cross-time and time-splitting stories will be an important part of this article insofar as they portray one or more alternate histories that diverged from a common past.
More on [ Alternate history (fiction) ]
Historical Fiction :: Genres
Historical Anomalies and Revisionism :: Anomalies and Alternative Science
@ScottLudwig Nope, never heard of it. I'm still having too much fun delving into the real history before the alternative type stuff really.
templesmith (Ben Templesmith) Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:56:43 -0000
@ScottLudwig Nope, never heard of it. I'm still having too much fun delving into the real history before the alternative type stuff really.
@egytweet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH9j-kk3wjU - John Anthony West Ancient Egypt part I (alternative egyptian history)
5woodrabbit (Jessica LIM) Mon, 14 Dec 2009 23:08:02 -0000
@egytweet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH9j-kk3wjU - John Anthony West Ancient Egypt part I (alternative egyptian history)
.@nowviskie relevant to your alternative career series? see posts at http://sarantakes.blogspot.com/ on "the history phd as..."
footnotesrising (Susan Garfinkel) Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:38:58 -0000
.@nowviskie relevant to your alternative career series? see posts at http://sarantakes.blogspot.com/ on "the history phd as..."
Alternative history: Akhilles buttocks
mymondayclub (mymondayclub) Sun, 13 Dec 2009 08:20:50 -0000
Alternative history: Akhilles buttocks
@Jumex To be honest, I've never used BeOS, despite knowing the history. It became knew because was an alternative to the Mac...
gui_restani (Guilherme M. Restani) Sun, 13 Dec 2009 03:45:14 -0000
@Jumex To be honest, I've never used BeOS, despite knowing the history. It became knew because was an alternative to the Mac...
#lis768 alternative history of video games http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsLnVXqlf7g
jonschechinger (Jon Schechinger) Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:58:21 -0000
#lis768 alternative history of video games http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsLnVXqlf7g
Alternate Histories - What if the events in all those science fiction movies really did take place? When did they happen? This site will tell you when.
Alternate History Discussion - The largest alternate history discussion forum on the web, plus a directory of individual scenarios sorted by era.
Meta Description: [ Alternate History Discussion Board ]
Alternate History Travel Guides - Over 25 Travel Guides, one pocket guide, and one Interdimensional Brewpub Tour, four worlds and counting.
Meta Description: [ A listing of travel guides to worlds of Might Have Been. ]
Alternative History at Suite 101 - A guide for histories that never were, including articles, original fiction, site reviews, and discussion board.
B-49 Alternate History - Speculates on how military aviation history would have been different if the project had not been cancelled.
Dale Cozort's Alternate History Page - I do four things in this section: 1.Point to some good but obscure alternate histories. 2.Give links to a few good alternate history sites. 3.Hype my alternate history stories. 4.Toss out a couple of alternate history scenarios of the month for email discussion.
Meta Description: [ These are summaries of the contents of my alternate history
(iffy history, alternative history) zine. >
Decades of Darkness - History of an evil USA dominated by slave owners.
For All Time - A very long and detailed dystopia resulting from the death of FDR shortly after Pearl Harbor.
John J. Reilly's Alternative History - Contains various short speculative essays.
Point Of Divergence - An Alternate-History Amateur Press Association. A forum for discussion of ideas, and a story workshop for Alternate History Writers.
Sideways - An anthology web comic strip that focuses on alternate history/reality. Also provides a showcase for alternate history stories.
Stephen's Alternate History - Scenarios, articles, books.
Meta Description: [ New Hampshire's premier Internet Service Provider since 1995 ]
Surreal History - Includes CSA Today, Balkanized North America and Moslem Australia.
This Day in Alternate History - A daily calendar with at least one alternate history scenario per day. Input on the scenarios or suggestions for new scenarios welcome.
Today In Alternate History - Blog that features important events in history that never occurred today. Created by Robbie Taylor of College Station, Texas.
Uchronia: The Alternate History List - An annotated bibliography of novels, stories, essays and other material involving the 'what ifs' of history.
Meta Description: [ An annotated bibliography of novels, stories, essays and other material involving the 'what ifs' of history. ]
What If Gordon Banks had Played? - A British alternate history timeline, resulting from a different result in a 1970 football match, but leading to totalitarianism and war.
Meta Description: [ Alternative History of an authoritarian 1970s Britain. ]
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