HOME | BESTSELLERS | NEW RELEASES | PRICE WATCH | FICTION | BIOGRAPHIES | E-BOOKS |
Virtual History: Alternatives and Counterfactuals Book
* Excludes Voucher Code Discount Also available Used from £3.25
-
Amazon Review
This meaty, scholarly collection of essays by gifted historian Niall Ferguson tackles the controversial topic of counterfactual questions: What if Hitler had invaded Britain in WWII? What if JFK had survived his assassination? What if there had been no Gorbachev to usher in the collapse of Communism? What if there had been no American Revolution? Ferguson points out that while questions such as these are a vital part of how we learn as individuals ("What if I had observed the speed limit, or refused that last drink?"), there remains a great deal of resistance--even hostility--to such musings among professional historians. "[I]n the dismissive phrase of E.H. Carr, 'counterfactual' history is a mere 'parlour game,' a 'red herring.'" E.P. Thompson is less charitable, calling counterfactual histories "'Geschichtswissenschlopff', unhistorical shit."
But Ferguson and his distinguished collaborators (many of whom are also Oxford fellows) lodge some convincing counterfactuals of their own to counter this arguably blinkered notion, this "idea that events are in some way preprogrammed, so that what was, had to be." In addition to the what-ifs above, Ferguson and his comrades tackle eight questions in all, including "What if Charles I had avoided the Civil War?", "What if Home Rule had been enacted [in Ireland] in 1912?", and "What if Britain had 'stood aside' in August 1914?" Virtual History makes for a stimulating and intellectually rigorous trip, with Ferguson's own delightful afterword as the collection's crowning jewel, a brilliant--and often bitingly clever--timeline tying together all the threads from 1646 to 1996. --Paul Hughes
-
Product Description
"Fluent and entertaining." - "The Times". "Ferguson ...constructs an entire scenario starting with Charles I's defeat of the Covenanters, running through three revolutions, the American, the French and the Russian - that did not happen and climaxing with the collapse of the West, ruled by an Anglo American empire, in the face of a mighty transcontinental, tsarist Russian imperium...A welcome, optimistic assault on an intellectual heresy that has done much, much more harm than good." - Brian Appleyard, "Sunday Times". "Quite brilliant, inspiring for the layman and an enviable tour de force for the informed reader ...A wonderful book ...lucid, exciting and easy to read." - Claus von Bulow, "Literary Review". "Sizzling essays hot from the academic griddle." - Piers Brendon, "Mail on Sunday". "The implications of "Virtual History" deserve to be meditated by every historian ...a talented and imaginative team of historians who tackle with counterfactual verve a series of mostly twentieth century turning points." - Christopher Andrew, "Daily Telegraph."
- 0330413031
- 9780330413039
- Niall Ferguson
- 7 March 2003
- Pan
- Paperback (Book)
- 560
- New edition
Would you like your name to appear with the review?
We will post your book review within a day or so as long as it meets our guidelines and terms and conditions. All reviews submitted become the licensed property of www.find-book.co.uk as written in our terms and conditions. None of your personal details will be passed on to any other third party.
All form fields are required.