Second hand politics, or maybe third

[pecunium]

Patrick, over here Electrolite links to Will Shetterly and some amusing play ensues, on the lines of the story, "What if the North had Won the War". I forget who wrote it, I seem to recall it was published in the Sat. Evening Post.


So go, be amused. It's a much more fun bit of political ranting than I've been doing.

Comments

Awesome

[ammitbeast.livejournal.com]

Shetterly's piece is priceless. Great stuff.

The really disappointing thing, though, is that the ardent Bush supporters just would not get it.

Of course, we're talking about a hypothetical situation. Naturally.

Good thing we don't have to actually live in that alternate universe. Thank Dog we only have to decide whether or not President Gore deserves a second term.

One such story

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

It's been done more than once, but this might be the best. From http://uchronia.net:
Churchill, Winston S. "If Lee had not Won the Battle of Gettysburg".
Divergence: 1863
What if: Jeb Stuart reached the battlefield in time to support Pickett's charge. Later, Lee unilaterally freed the slaves and Britain recognized the CSA.
Summary: Musings on how a Confederate defeat at Gettysburg might have prevented the formation of the English-speaking union. Thus, the story could be said to be recursive alternative history.
Comments: A discussion of the credibility of the divergence occurs in Hook's The Hero in History, q.v.

Published: In If It Had Happened Otherwise: Lapses Into Imaginary History, all eds. (ed. J.C. Squire), q.v.; and What Might Have Been? Volume 3: Alternate Wars (eds. Gregory Benford and Martin H. Greenberg), q.v.
Original in: English.
Translation: German by Walter Brumm as "Wenn Lee die Schlacht von Gettysburg nicht gewonnen hätte", in Heyne Science Fiction Magazin #9; and Wenn Napoleon bei Waterloo gewonnen hätte. Und andere abwegige Geschichten (ed. J.C. Squire), Heyne 1999 (3453149114).
Translation: Italian by M. Cristina Pietri as "Se Lee non avesse vinto la battaglia di Gettysburg", in I mondi del possibile (ed. Piergiorgio Nicolazzini), q.v.