Alternate history or alternative history is a genre of fiction consisting of stories that are set in worlds in which history has diverged from the actual history of the world.

* The cyberpunk novelists William Gibson and Bruce Sterling co-authored a steampunk novel of alternative history titled The Difference Engine in which Babbage's Difference and Analytical Engines became available to Victorian society.

In a famous passage that is often considered the first specimen of alternative history, Livy speculates on what would have been the outcome of a military showdown between Alexander the Great and the Roman Republic.

Steiner began using the word to refer to his philosophy in the early 1900s as an alternative to theosophy, the term for Madame Blavatsky's movement, itself from the Greek, with a longer history with a meaning of " divine wisdom ".

However, this political restriction is less confining than it may first appear in that the Marxist historical framework is surprisingly flexible, and a rather simple matter to modify an alternative historical theory to use language that at least does not challenge the Marxist interpretation of history.

On the Nature of Animals, (" On the Characteristics of Animals " is an alternative title ; usually cited, though, by its Latin title ), is a curious collection, in 17 books, of brief stories of natural history, sometimes selected with an eye to conveying allegorical moral lessons, sometimes because they are just so astonishing:

Some of these languages, e. g., in worlds of fantasy fiction, alternative universes, Earth's future, or alternate history, are presented as distorted versions or dialects of modern English or other natural language, while others are independently designed conlangs.

The diagnosis is usually made retroactively when a doctor reviews the history and collects information that documents the circumstances before people left home, the travel itself, and the establishment of an alternative life.

* The 2004 mockumentary film, an alternative history called C. S. A.

: Watchmen ( 2009 ) ( set in an alternative version of history in which Richard Nixon went up for a third term and the United States won the Vietnam War due to the intervention of superheroes )

When the resemblance is strong, particularly when real-world history is used, high fantasy shades into alternative history.

The two politicians had a storied history stemming from alternative perspectives and objectives.

Karenga said his goal was to " give Blacks an alternative to the existing holiday and give Blacks an opportunity to celebrate themselves and history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society.

To confirm the diagnosis, as well as excluding alternative causes, several investigations are required ; more investigations may be performed if the history is not typical or the patient is more likely to have an alternative problem: children, men, the elderly, or women who are not overweight.

His 1999 musical composition " Energy Flow ", also known as the alternative title of the single disc Ura BTTB, was the first number-one instrumental single in Japan's Oricon charts history.

In the television comedy series Blackadder, Richard III is portrayed by Peter Cook in an alternative version of history as a doting, kindly man who treats his nephews with affection.

* A time setting in the future, in alternative timelines, or in a historical past that contradicts known facts of history or the archaeological record.

Alternate ( or alternative ) history stories are based on the premise that historical events might have turned out differently.

It involves a setting where steam power is widely used — whether in an alternative history such as Victorian era Britain or " Wild West "- era United States, or in a post-apocalyptic time — that incorporates elements of either science fiction or fantasy.

At the time, Kierkegaard's philosophy exerted a strong influence, chiefly through its claim to pose an alternative to Idealism and Hegel's philosophy of history.

In her published novel, Pathways, Voyager producer Jeri Taylor provided an alternative story much more similar to the events in " The First Duty " by moving the accident to Paris ' Starfleet Academy years and making his fellow cadets the victims of his recklessness.

The second half of each novel is devoted to a courtroom scene, during which Mason arrives at the alternative explanation and proves it to the satisfaction of the court.

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The novel within the novel details an alternative to this history in which the Allies overcome the Axis and bring stability to the world.

In How Few Remain, an alternative history novel by Harry Turtledove, the town is mentioned as the only Confederate town taken by the US during the Second Mexican War.

* Nashville, NC and its surrounding area are prominent settings for the alternative history novel The Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove.

In the 18th century the bridge chapel was inexplicably used as a bawdy house and had two further storeys, now removed ; this alternative use has been highlighted in the historical novel ' Not Just a Whore ', by local St Ives resident K M Warwick.

* In the alternative history novel, Lest Darkness Fall, by L. Sprague de Camp, the protagonist, a 20th Century man who falls into Dark Age Rome, develops a semaphore system to warn of invasion.

It is considered to be an " alternative society " or " alternative culture " novel.

Kingsley Amis wrote " The Alteration " ( 1976 ), an alternative history novel about the effects of a contested " War of the English Succession " ( c 1509 ), where the birth and reign of Prince Arthur Tudor and Katherine of Aragon's son, " Stephen II ", leads Henry VIII to attempt to usurp his nephew's throne.

Arthur is also the principal character of an alternative history novel by the eccentric English writer Frederick Rolfe (' Baron Corvo '), entitled Hubert's Arthur, posthumously published by A. J.

Teagarden's trombone style was largely self-taught, and he developed many unusual alternative positions and novel special effects on the instrument.

* In 2009, Portuguese writer José Saramago wrote a novel entitled Cain, which tells an alternative version of the murder of Abel and the life of Cain afterwards.

Even a purely historical work selectively reveals backstory to the audience, a backstory which may receive alternative creative emphasis in each rendition of a novel, play, or film, while each shares key elements — however differently they may be depicted and revealed — which are factors of timing, style and story telling art of a given media while the whole of a backstory goes to facts.

The first few pages of the novel deal with a sourcerer's father who cheats death by making a prophecy that Death must honour ; the alternative is to risk destroying the Discworld.

Johnson's novel V: The Second Generation, an alternative sequel to the first miniseries which disregards V: The Final Battle and V: The Series, ( because of his non involvement with them ) was released on February 5, 2008.

He has published three volumes of his memoirs including Stamp Album ( written in tribute to his late mother ), a novel entitled The Night, and a cookbook co-written with Elizabeth Buxton to provide alternative recipes for those who are wheat and dairy-intolerant.

Nonetheless The Naked Lunch remained the title used for the 1968 and 1974 Corgi Books editions, and the novel is often known by the alternative name, especially in the UK where these editions circulated.

In 1983, the alternative rock band The Alarm released the song, " The Stand ," with lyrics directly inspired by the novel.

* Geta, a 1982 science-fiction novel by Donald Kingsbury which has the alternative title Courtship Rite

Harris's million-selling first novel Fatherland in 1992, an alternative history set in a world where Germany has won World War II, enabled him to become a novelist full-time.