Alternative History
If you like books about alternative history, you’re sure to enjoy these titles.
Lion’s Blood: A Novel of Slavery and Freedom in an Alternate America by Steven Barnes
After the peoples of Africa colonize the Americas, the fates of two families – one Islamic African aristocrats, the other Druidic Irish slaves – collide as two young men, one of each dynasty, confront their world and each other.
Fire on the Mountain by Terry Bisson
In a South where the Civil War never happened, a successful slave revolution spawns a socialist utopia, and a Black woman grieves for the loss of her astronaut husband on a mission to Mars.
Year of the Hangman by Gary L. Blackwood
In 1777, having been kidnapped and taken forcibly from England to the American colonies, fifteen-year-old Creighton becomes part of developments in the political unrest there that may spell defeat for the patriots and change the course of history.
The Man in the High Castle by Philip A. Dick
It’s America in 1962–where slavery is legal and the few surviving Jews hide anxiously under assumed names. All because some twenty years earlier America lost a war–and is now occupied jointly by Nazi Germany and Japan.
Resurrection Day by Brendan DuBois
In 1972, ten years after a nuclear war decimated both the United States and Soviet Union, Carl Landry, a young reporter, searches for the killer of a veteran of the 1962 war and begins to suspect that the victim may have held the key to a terrifying conspiracy.
One King’s Way by Harry Harrison
An alternate version of the Dark Ages is set in a Viking-conquered England, where a mighty new ruler plans to build an unstoppable navy of catapult-bearing warships while preventing his many enemies from rising against him.
A Calculus of Angels by J. Gregory Keyes
Sir Isaac Newton and Benjamin Franklin must combine forces against a wave of black magic that plays havoc with eighteenth-century Europe and threatens a repeat of the dark ages unless the pair can come up with a plan.
Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson
In an alternate history world in which the population of Europe is almost completely wiped out by the Black Death during the fourteenth century, three superpowers–China, India, and the nations of Islam–battle for supremacy in a World War destined to create a new world order.
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
Aviation hero Charles A. Lindbergh defeats Franklin Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential election, negotiating an accord with Adolf Hitler and accepting his conquest of Europe and anti-Semitic policies.
Departures by Harry Turtledove
A collection of twenty alternative-history short stories ranging from ancient times to the distant future.
How Few Remain by Harry Turtledove
In 1883, the United States, still angry over its defeat at the hands of the Confederacy, returns to the battlefields, with the Apache, outlaw gangs, and European forces becoming involved in the conflict.
Excalibur Alternative by David Weber
Lying helpless during a raging storm in the North Sea, a fleet of medieval ships finds sudden rescue in the arrival of a powerful group of aliens, who offer salvation in exchange for eternal bondage fighting as star soldiers.
