Books, books and books

[andrewcardall]

Recently I have been buying and reading a hell of a lot of books, and the books I've been drawn to recently haven't been fictional works, but quite advanced and heavy reading history books, focussed on pretty much anything over the 20th Century, so mainly the world wars, Nazism, the Cold War and the breaking of Empires. I've always enjoyed reading

Comments

[manchester_red]

Might well look out for that one, Arnie. I do own a book compiled of 'what if' essays, drawm on pivotal moments throughout history - 'What If?', edited by Robert Cowley. Fascinating stuff. History turns on such a fine line at times - what if the Armada had succeeded? What if Napoleon had defeated the Prussians sufficiently heavily that they were unable to join Wellington at Waterloo? (Wellington would not have fought, would have retreated back across the Channel and Napoleon would have bought more time to face the Russian, Austrian and Prussian armies advancing on his borders.) What if Washington had been defeated? He came damned close to defeat and how different might the history of America have been.

Had the Gauls shown more military nous they might well have defeated Caesar before he became, in all but name, the first Roman Emperor. If the Germans had finished their experiments first they would have had nuclear bombs, with V-2 rockets to carry them. You could go on and on . . .

. . .but for the beat of a butterfly's wings . . .

[andrewcardall]

I have the What If? book, actually, as well as it's sister, More What If? Both are extremely fascinating reads, I agree with you there Jeremy. Always an interesting past time to sit around and just ask yourself how different things could have been if for little event changes.

I try not to worry about what could have been, personally, outside of historical interest. On a personal level I focus on more what CAN be ;)