PoC focal Alternate History recommendations

[8mph_ansible]

'eyos and 'ellos towards one and all,

Been talkin alternate history to some folx online over the weekend. And in the my mind I've reviewed all the alternate history works I've read, came across and heard about. Now this, if you understand, can be rather funny given that much of the genre's material feels like a short playlist on repeat.

Comments

[alias_sqbr]

This certainly isn't a recomendation, but there's Pastwatch by Orson Scott Card: the moral is basically that european domination of the world is bad, but south american domination would be even worse, and the perfect scenario is one where everyone converts to christianity and becomes BFF. (As with the Alvin Maker series (another alternate history of America of his), I think the wierd attitudes the church of jesus christ and the latter day saints has to the indiginous peoples of America come into play)

[8mph_ansible]

LOL WUT *headdesk*

Nice non-recommendation but thanks for letting me, and others, know it exists. Card really is a card *smh*

[alias_sqbr]

The annoying thing is that he asks some interesting questions: Could a slight change in history have prevented european dominance, and what would that world look like? Given complete knowledge of history and advanced technology, what could a time traveler do to stop the world getting as screwed up as it is?

The problem is just his answers.. :/

[8mph_ansible]

The problem is just his answers.. :/

Very much so. And yet I'm often intrigued by this continued thought that if an [Native] American group becomes a larger regional, continental and/or global power then it is likely Central or South American and is either the Azteca or the Inka. And in most scenarios it plays on an ugly feeling of "Woe! Human sacrifices abound! The horror THE HORROR! D=" tone.

[alias_sqbr]

Yes, I've been self teaching myself a bit of history and stuff recently, and thinking about how we westerners can on the one hand romanticise our past and gloss over the horrible aspects/attitudes etc while simultaneously looking down on societies for being alien and "backward" when their values/society etc are much closer to our own than our ancestors were. I'm pretty sure that if you'd asked the ancient romans what an empire out of england would look like, they wouldn't have had high hopes for us becoming "civilised". (I'm not sure I got my point across there. But yes, I agree with you

[8mph_ansible]

Yep, and don't get me started on europeans eating mummified human flesh brought from Africa, mainly Egypt. Yeah...

And you have pretty much spelled out bit by bit my entire love-hate relationship with the Stargate franchise. =/

[alias_sqbr]

o.O

*googles "eating mummified flesh"*

Good god. Every time I think I have a grip on the horribleness of european history...