Altered Pasts
Subtitle: Counterfactuals in History
Publisher: Brandeis University Press
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 176
ISBN-13: 9781611685374
Subjects: History, philosophy; Historiography; Right and left (political science); Great britain, history, 20th century
Description: What would have happened had Britain not entered the First World War but stood aside as a neutral non-belligerent? What might the result have been had Britain concluded a separate peace with Nazi Germany in 1940 or 1941? How would the British have behaved had they lost the Battle of Britain and been conquered and occupied by the armed forces of Hitler's Third Reich? Altered Pasts is a fascinating discussion of the historical and cultural significance of imagining the road not taken. From its beginnings as an Enlightenment parlour game to its relationship with modern-day conspiracy theories, Richard Evans charts the social and political implications of counterfactual history and its capacity for being a mirror on the present. -- Provided by publisher.