The Collected What If?

The most informative and engrossing book I’ve read all year. I can’t remember a time in which I’ve been so interested in continuing to read through a book, especially of this length. It’s the kind of book you immediately want to tell your friends about, and is hard to get through even a few pages without taking notes or a photo of something.

“What If?” deals in the murky realm of the historical counterfactual: i.e., what would have unfolded if a battle had been lost instead of won, if a person had made a different decision, or if weather had been different on a particular day? This volume is actually two separate books mashed into one, which accounts for its significant page count. Each chapter is a completely separate counterfactual essay, by a different author, all compiled and introduced by editor Robert Crowley.

The topic choices are incredible. Book 1 was originally written as a military history counterfactual, but it’s success led to a broadening to many more topics covered in book 2. What if weather had not cleared up right in time for the D-Day invasion? What if the bad weather cloaking George Washington’s retreat from New York had indeed cleared up? What if Robert E. Lee had not accidentally dropped his war plans, to be picked up and taken full advantage of by Union forces? What if Cleopatra and Marc Antony had not fallen in love? What if Pizarro had not discovered Peruvian potatoes? What if the Mongols had not turned back, if Pontus Pilate hadn’t crucified Jesus, if Hitler had not committed suicide in the bunker, if the Assyrians had not died from illness outside Judea?

The book has its faults: a lack of diverse authors, too much focus on military history, and surprisingly numerous editing issues. But overall this was the one best bang for your buck choices in really wrestling with history, from 2,000 B.C. to present day, that I’ve yet read. It’s a beast, but it’s worth the time investment.