Editing Alternate history (section)

===Contemporary alternate history in popular literature===
{{More citations needed section|date=October 2023}}
[[File:Draka42.png|thumb|The world of 1942, as depicted at the start of [[S. M. Stirling]]'s ''[[The Domination]]'' series]]
[[File:Timeline-191 WWI.png|thumb|World War I from [[Harry Turtledove]]'s [[Southern Victory]] ("Timeline 191") series]]
The late 1980s and the 1990s saw a boom in popular-fiction versions of alternate history, fueled by the emergence of the prolific alternate history author [[Harry Turtledove]], as well as the development of the [[steampunk]] genre and two series of anthologies—the ''What Might Have Been'' series edited by [[Gregory Benford]] and the ''Alternate ...'' series edited by [[Mike Resnick]]. This period also saw alternate history works by [[S. M. Stirling]], Kim Stanley Robinson, [[Harry Harrison (writer)|Harry Harrison]], [[Howard Waldrop]], [[Peter Tieryas]],<ref>{{Cite web|last=Liptak|first=Andrew|title=The United States of Japan Shows What Happens When Ideology Crumbles|url=https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-united-states-of-japan-shows-what-happens-when-ideo-1770928957|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417153208/http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-united-states-of-japan-shows-what-happens-when-ideo-1770928957|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 17, 2016|access-date=3 December 2020|website=io9|date=16 April 2016|language=en-us}}</ref> and others.

In 1986, a sixteen-part epic comic book series called ''[[Captain Confederacy]]'' began examining a world where the [[Confederate States of America]] won the [[American Civil War]]. In the series, the Captain and others heroes are staged government propaganda events featuring the feats of these superheroes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://captainconfederacy.blogspot.com/|title=The posts that were at this blog...|first=Will|last=Shetterly|date=15 September 2016|access-date=10 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060202045828/http://captainconfederacy.blogspot.com/|archive-date=2 February 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Since the late 1990s, Harry Turtledove has been the most prolific practitioner of alternate history and has been given the title "Master of Alternate History" by some.<ref>{{cite web|author=» MORE |url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6548135.html |title=Master of Alternate History - 4/7/2008 - Publishers Weekly |access-date=26 January 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080518203009/http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6548135.html |archive-date=18 May 2008 }}</ref> His books include those of [[Southern Victory|Timeline 191]] (a.k.a. Southern Victory, also known as TL-191), in which, while the [[Confederate States of America]] won the [[American Civil War]], the Union and [[German Empire|Imperial Germany]] defeat the Entente Powers in the two "Great War"s of the 1910s and 1940s (with a Nazi-esque Confederate government attempting to exterminate its black population), and the [[Worldwar series]], in which aliens invaded Earth during [[World War II]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}} Other stories by Turtledove include ''[[A Different Flesh]]'', in which the [[Americas]] were not populated from [[Asia]] during the last [[ice age]]; ''[[In the Presence of Mine Enemies (2003 novel)|In the Presence of Mine Enemies]]'', in which the [[Nazi Germany|Nazis]] won World War II;{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}} and ''[[Ruled Britannia]]'', in which the [[Spanish Armada]] succeeded in conquering [[Kingdom of England|England]] in the [[Elizabethan era]], with [[William Shakespeare]] being given the task of writing the play that will motivate the Britons to rise up against their [[Habsburg Spain|Spanish]] conquerors.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}} He also co-authored a book with actor [[Richard Dreyfuss]], ''[[The Two Georges]]'', in which the United Kingdom retained the American colonies, with [[George Washington]] and King [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]] making peace.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}} He did a two-volume series in which the Japanese not only [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|bombed Pearl Harbor]] but also invaded and occupied the Hawaiian Islands.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

Perhaps the most incessantly explored theme in popular alternate history focuses on the aftermath of an [[Axis victory in World War II]]. In some versions, the Nazis and/or [[Axis Powers]] win; or in others, they conquer most of the world but a "Fortress America" exists under siege;{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}} while in others,{{specify|date=October 2023}} there is a Nazi/Japanese [[Cold War]] comparable to the US/Soviet equivalent in 'our' timeline.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}} ''[[Fatherland (novel)|Fatherland]]'' (1992), by [[Robert Harris (novelist)|Robert Harris]], is set in Europe following the Nazi victory. The novel ''[[Dominion (Sansom novel)|Dominion]]'' by [[C.J. Sansom]] (2012) is similar in concept but is set in England, with Churchill the leader of an anti-German Resistance and other historic persons in various fictional roles.<ref>{{cite news|last=Lawson|first=Mark|date=6 December 2012|title=Dominion by CJ Sansom – review|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/dec/06/dominion-cj-sansom-review|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> In the [[Mecha Samurai Empire series]] (2016), [[Peter Tieryas]] focuses on the Asian-American side of the alternate history, exploring an America ruled by the Japanese Empire while integrating elements of Asian pop culture like mechas and videogames.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Liptak|first=Andrew|date=1 February 2018|title=Mecha Samurai Empire imagines that America lost WWII — also there are giant robots|url=https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/1/16934424/peter-tieryas-mecha-samurai-empire-alternate-history-science-fiction-book-q-and-a|access-date=3 December 2020|website=The Verge|language=en}}</ref>

Several writers{{who|date=October 2023}} have posited points of departure for such a world but then have injected time splitters from the future. For instance [[James P. Hogan (writer)|James P. Hogan]]'s ''[[The Proteus Operation]]''. [[Norman Spinrad]] wrote ''[[The Iron Dream]]'' in 1972, which is intended to be a science fiction novel written by [[Adolf Hitler]] after fleeing from Europe to North America in the 1920s.<ref>{{cite web |title=Book Review: The Iron Dream, Norman Spinrad (1972) |url=https://sciencefictionruminations.com/2013/05/18/book-review-the-iron-dream-norman-spinrad-1972/ |website=Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations |access-date=28 December 2023 |language=en |date=18 May 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Spinrad |first1=Norman |last2=Whipple |first2=Homer |title=The iron dream: Adolf Hitler's Hugo award winning SF Classic |date=2013 |publisher=ReAnimus Press |location=Golden, Colorado |isbn=9781490439457 |edition=First ReAnimus Press print}}</ref>

In [[Jo Walton]]'s "Small Change" series, the United Kingdom made peace with Hitler before the involvement of the United States in World War II, and slowly collapses due to severe economic depression. Former House Speaker [[Newt Gingrich]] and [[William R. Forstchen]] have written a novel, ''[[1945 (Gingrich novel)|1945]]'', in which the US defeated [[Empire of Japan|Japan]] but not [[Nazi Germany|Germany]] in World War II, resulting in a Cold War with Germany rather than the Soviet Union. Gingrich and Forstchen neglected to write the promised sequel; instead, they wrote a trilogy about the American Civil War, starting with ''[[Gettysburg: A Novel of the Civil War]]'', in which the Confederates win a victory at the [[Battle of Gettysburg]] - however, after Lincoln responds by bringing Grant and his forces to the eastern theater, the Army of Northern Virginia is soon trapped and destroyed in Maryland, and the war ends within weeks.{{full citation needed|date=October 2023}}

While World War II has been a common point of divergence in alternate history literature, several works have been based on other points of divergence.  For example, [[Martin Cruz Smith]], in his first novel, posited an independent American Indian nation following the defeat of Custer in ''The Indians Won'' (1970).<ref>{{cite news|first=Nicholas|last=Wroe |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/mar/26/featuresreviews.guardianreview15 |title=Profile: Martin Cruz Smith &#124; Books |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=14 November 2015}}</ref>  Beginning with ''[[The Probability Broach]]'' in 1980, [[L. Neil Smith]] wrote [[North American Confederacy|several novels]] that postulated the disintegration of the US Federal Government after [[Albert Gallatin]] joins the [[Whiskey Rebellion]] in 1794 and eventually leads to the creation of a libertarian utopia.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Brown|first=Alan|date=27 September 2018|title=Throw Out the Rules: The Probability Broach by L. Neil Smith|url=https://www.tor.com/2018/09/27/throw-out-the-rules-the-probability-broach-by-l-neil-smith/|access-date=3 December 2020|website=Tor.com|language=en-US}}</ref>  In the 2022 novel ''Poutine and Gin'' by Steve Rhinelander, the point of divergence is the Battle of the Plains of Abraham of the French and Indian War.  That novel is a mystery set in 1940 of that time line.

A recent time traveling splitter variant involves entire communities being shifted elsewhere to become the unwitting creators of new time branches. These communities are transported from the present (or the near-future) to the past or to another timeline via a natural disaster, the action of technologically advanced aliens, or a human experiment gone wrong. [[S. M. Stirling]] wrote the ''[[Island in the Sea of Time]]'' trilogy, in which [[Nantucket]] Island and all its modern inhabitants are transported to [[Bronze Age]] times to become the world's first superpower. In [[Eric Flint]]'s [[1632 series|''1632'' series]], a small town in [[West Virginia]] is transported to 17th century central Europe and drastically changes the course of the [[Thirty Years' War]], which was then underway. [[John Birmingham]]'s ''[[Axis of Time]]'' trilogy deals with the culture shock when a United Nations naval task force from 2021 finds itself back in 1942 helping the Allies against the [[Empire of Japan]] and the Germans (and doing almost as much harm as good in spite of its advanced weapons). The series also explores the cultural impacts of people with 2021 ideals interacting with 1940s culture. Similarly, [[Robert Charles Wilson]]'s ''[[Mysterium (novel)|Mysterium]]'' depicts a failed US government experiment which transports a small American town into an alternative version of the US run by [[Gnosticism|Gnostics]], who are engaged in a bitter war with the "Spanish" in Mexico (the chief scientist at the laboratory where the experiment occurred is described as a Gnostic, and references to Christian Gnosticism appear repeatedly in the book).<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wagner|first=Thomas W.|title=SF REVIEWS.NET: Mysterium / Robert Charles Wilson ☆☆☆½|url=http://www.sfreviews.net/mysterium.html|access-date=3 December 2020|website=www.sfreviews.net}}</ref>{{additional citation needed|date=October 2023}}

Although not dealing in physical time travel, in his alt-history novel ''[[Marx Returns]]'', [[Jason Barker]] introduces anachronisms into the life and times of [[Karl Marx]], such as when his wife [[Jenny von Westphalen|Jenny]] sings a verse from the [[Sex Pistols]]'s song "[[Anarchy in the U.K.]]", or in the games of chess she plays with the Marxes' housekeeper [[Helene Demuth]], which on one occasion involves a [[Caro–Kann Defence]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Barker |first=Jason |title=Marx Returns |publisher=Zero Books |year=2018 |location=Winchester, UK |pages=19 & 165 |isbn=978-1-78535-660-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/bestalternatehis00newy }}</ref> In her review of the novel, Nina Power writes of "Jenny's 'utopian' desire for an end to time", an attitude which, according to Power, is inspired by her husband's co-authored book ''[[The German Ideology]]''. However, in keeping with the novel's anachronisms, the latter was not published until 1932.<ref>{{Cite news|url= https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/time-and-freedom-in-jason-barkers-marx-returns/|title=Time and Freedom in Jason Barker's 'Marx Returns'|last=Power|first=Nina|date=16 March 2018|work=Los Angeles Review of Books|access-date=30 November 2020|language=en-US}}</ref> By contrast, the novel's timeline ends in 1871.

In the 2022 novel ''Hydrogen Wars: Atomic Sunrise'' by R.M. Christianson, a small change in [[post-war]] Japanese history leads to the election of [[Douglas MacArthur|General Douglas MacArthur]] as [[President of the United States]]. This minor change ultimately leads to all-out [[atomic war]] between the major [[Cold War]] powers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hydrogenwars.com/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221020183252/https://www.hydrogenwars.com/|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 20, 2022|title=Home|website=Hydrogen Wars|accessdate=6 April 2023}}</ref>

Through crowdfunding on [[Kickstarter]], Alan Jenkins and Gan Golan produced a graphic novel series called ''1/6'' depicting a [[dystopian]] alternate reality in which the [[January 6 United States Capitol attack]] was successful. What follows is the burning down of the Capitol building and the hanging of Vice President [[Mike Pence]]. Under [[Donald Trump's]] second term as president, a solid gold statue of him is erected and armed thugs patrol the streets of [[Washington DC]] suppressing civilian resistance with brutal violence under the banner of the Confederate flag.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://theconversation.com/what-if-the-january-6-insurrection-at-the-us-capitol-had-succeeded-a-graphic-novel-is-uniquely-placed-to-answer-197330 | title=What if the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol had succeeded? A graphic novel is uniquely placed to answer | date=6 January 2023 }}</ref>