WHAT IF? Must-Read Alternate History Fiction

The alternate history genre provides an fascinating opportunity for authors to re-imagine "real" history with versions based on the alteration of pivotal historical events or on the insertion of imaginary ones. Accordingly, here is a five-page list of the best works of fiction imagining an altered history whose premise can be summed up in a single question beginning with "What if. . ."

Cahokia Jazz

Francis Spufford

$28.00 $26.04

What if instead of being decimated by diseases brought to America by European colonizers, indigenous Americans had thrived and multiplied?

Ss-GB

Len Deighton

$17.00 $15.81

What if Germany had won World War II and had occupied Britain? (An alternate history classic finally in print in the U.S. again!)

Lest Darkness Fall & Timeless Tales Written in Tribute

Frederik Pohl, David Weber, et al.

$34.99 $32.54

What if a modern-day historian were transported back in time and used his knowledge to prevent the fall of Rome? (L. Sprague de Camp's classic novel is collected in this volume along with short stories by leading science fiction authors that pay homage to the alternate history genre.)

Tales From Alternate Earths Volume III

Alan Smale

$15.99 $14.87

"What If" x 14: Fourteen of the latest alternate history short stories. (The first two collections in this series are now out of print - Grab this one while you can!)

Altered Europa

Sam Kepfield, William Rade, et al.

$12.99

"What If" x 21: Twenty-one short stories featuring alterations to pivotal events in European history.

Alternate Peace

Juliet E. McKenna, Kari Sperring, et al.

$16.99

"What If?" x 15: Fifteen short stories of alterations to pivotal events of history during times of peace rather than times of war.

Pavane

Keith Roberts

$17.00 $15.81

What if Queen Elizabeth I had been assassinated in 1588, the Spanish Armada successfully invaded England, and the Catholic Church reigned supreme? An alternate history classic and must-read.

Everfair

Nisi Shawl

$19.99 $18.59

What if a refuge for indigenous Africans had been established in the Belgian Congo and developed technology far beyond that of the 19th century European invaders?

Summerland

Hannu Rajaniemi

$17.99 $16.73

What if just before World War II, England discovered how to physically access the afterlife - and colonized it? (The first in the Jean le Flambeur trilogy followed by "The Fractal Prince" and "The Casual Angel".)

My Volcano

John Elizabeth Stintzi

$18.99 $17.66

What if in 2017, climate change began devastating the world - starting with the eruption of a volcano in New York's Central Park?

The Five Books of (Robert) Moses

Arthur Nersesian

$44.95 $41.80

What if a a domestic terrorist bombing in 1970 had rendered New York City uninhabitable and the city was relocated to the Nevada desert?

Mr. Beethoven

Paul Griffiths

$17.95 $16.69

What if Beethoven had accepted an American commission to compose an oratorio and had travelled to the United States?

Hot Moon

Alan Smale

$29.99 $27.89

What if Soviet Russia had beaten the United States in the space race and had been the first to land a man on the Moon?

Civilizations

Laurent Binet

$19.00 $17.67

What if in 1000 AD, Viking explorers had voyaged as far as the Caribbean, Christopher Columbus and the Spanish conquistadores had failed to colonize the Americas, and instead the Incas had invaded and conquered Spain and Europe? A masterfully imaginative reversal of historical power dynamics, this novel is a new alternate history classic!

Confederacy Of Fenians

James D. Nealon

$19.95

What if the Confederates won the Battle of Gettysburg, Britain invaded the North, and Irish Union Army soldiers defected to the Confederacy?

She Who Became the Sun

Shelley Parker-Chan

$18.99 $17.66

What if the boy who would become the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty had died at a young age and his place was taken by his sister?

He Who Drowned the World

Shelley Parker-Chan

$28.99 $26.96

The concluding sequel to "She Who Became the Sun" (above)

Widowland

C. J. Carey

$16.99 $15.80

What if Hitler's Nazi forces had successfully invaded England and set up a racial caste system that categorized and controlled women?

Light Perpetual

Francis Spufford

$18.00 $16.74

What if five children killed in a German rocket attack on London during World War II were given a "second chance" at life? (An absolutely ingenious novel - a nominee for the 2021 Booker Prize - that resurrects not just the five main characters, but six decades of history.)

A Master of Djinn

P. Djèlí Clark

$18.99 $17.66

What if in 1872, an Egyptian inventor opened the door to the supernatural world and left it open?

The Apollo Murders

Chris Hadfield

$17.99 $16.73

What if President Nixon had agreed to a secret military mission to the Moon in 1972?

Eladatl: A History of the East Los Angeles Dirigible Air Transport Lines

Sesshu Foster

$17.95 $16.69

What if lighter-than-air travel had been developed in East Los Angeles during the early 20th century?

A Clash of Civilizations: An Alternate History Novel

Hugh Auchincloss Brown

$33.95 $31.57

What if instead of bringing smallpox to the New World, Columbus and his crew had been infected and taken the disease back to a Europe that had no immunity?