Pop Culture Embraces Alternative History, Hits the Modern World’s Zeitgeist

On Substack, I've updated a piece I first wrote on this blog in 2015 about how movies, books, TV shows, and even the news are filled with what-if, counter-factual scenarios. Pop Culture Embraces Alternative History, Hits the Modern World's Zeitgeist. I also posted it to the Alternate History group on Facebook and got a few …

Discussion Questions for Students and Interactivity

Ask Students: What Causes Historical Change? Identify A Single Decision Or ‘Point of Divergence’ From History Where Did You Get Your Like Or Love of History? Write an Alternate History of Your Personal Life Using Alternate History in Classroom Exercises Do Digital Recreations Make History Come Alive? PlayingHistory.org Aggregates Dozens of Games About History and Humanities Who are the oldest persons …

Work Requirements for Courses That Include Alternate History

Readings For students, there are approximately 10 short essays or lectures to read or listen to each week. In addition, students should read one alternate history book each five weeks, or watch 5 to 11 hours of documentaries each five weeks. In other words, the essays and lectures should take 2-4 hours each week, the …

Quizzes, Tests for Courses Incorporating Alternate History

Objective quizzes on English, French and European History Objective quizzes on most significant events of 20th and 21st Century History: Change happens in high velocity from the 1940s to 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. The new isolationism and the new globalization. Modern Western World: 1500s through 1930s or start of WWII. Study by century from …

Value of Studying Alternate History: An Aggregation of Blog Posts on Lessons, Units & Courses

Traditional teachers of history often express doubt that asking "what if" or studying alternate history can be a useful exercise because it is so speculative. But 18 essays on this blog demonstrate the value of counterfactuals in studying history and developing courses, lessons and units. Academic Publisher Uses ‘What Ifs’ to Excite Students About History Academic …

Authors Explain Philosophies of History

Why Study History? Without Herodotus and Thucydides, Historical Analysis Would Have Started Later, If At All. History's Highest Function, and Other Wise Words from Historians. Alexandre Dumas and the Origin of ‘Slender Threads’. ‘History Grounds Us’ + 20 Lessons on Tyranny. ‘People’s History of the US,’ Co-Authored By Oliver Stone: Leftist in 2013 But Now Mainstream? Popular Author Harry …

Philosophical Underpinnings For Studying History

Did Cleopatra’s Nose, Henry the VIII’s Libido, Richard III’s Horse and Your Ancestors’ Luck Make Crucial Historical Differences? Exploring Divine Providence, Retribution, Destiny, Predestination, Teleology and Chaos Theory Chaos Theory or Butterfly Effect Has Idea of Progress Disappeared? Why Counterfactuals Are So Popular ‘Inevitable’ Triumph of Democracy, Capitalism Now Very Much in Doubt Golden Age for Dystopian Fiction Power of Counter-Factual …

Introduction to the Trend and Growing Alternate History Genre

Pop Culture Embraces Fascination with Counter-Factual Scenarios. TV series. Games. A Popular New Genre Emerges, To Pique Student Interest in History. PlayingHistory.org Aggregates Dozens of Games About History and Humanities Popular TV Series 'Outlander' Depicts Time Travel from 20th to 18th Centuries; Interview with Author Gabaldon. BBC series, SS-GB: If Britain Lost to the Nazis. ‘Timeless’ …

Preface: Why I Fell In Love With This Topic

Tracing DNA and Ancestry Was One Inspiration for Contemplating Life's Slender Threads. What Ifs Made Me Realize We Are All Products of History. What If Your Grandparents Never Met? Traveling the World Made Me Ponder 'What Ifs.' The World Almost Ended Near My Home in North Carolina in January, 1961. Randomness of Life? History Can Veer Dramatically …