Subject: Review of WHAT IF...? edited by Nelson W. Polsby, Jr.

From: [email-masked] (Evelyn C Leeper)
Date: Sun, 11 Dec 1994 07:07:42 GMT

WHAT IF...? edited by Nelson W. Polsby, Jr.
   Lewis Publishing Company, ISBN 0-86616-018-3, 1982, 200pp, $12.95
                   A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
		    Copyright 1994 Evelyn C. Leeper

     To alternate history fans, this is one of a handful of "classic"
anthologies that are listed in all the background articles.  As is
often the case with classics, though, one wonders why.

     Even the introduction leads one astray, as Polsby explains how he
wanted to have people "consider some events, ideas, and figures with a
fresh eye," not realizing that many of these had already been mined in
the alternate history genre already.  (He does admit in a footnote that
during the project he learned about Borden and Graham's SPECULATIONS ON
AMERICAN HISTORY and Squire's IF IT HAD HAPPENED OTHERWISE.  But both
of these are more in the field of history than in science fiction, and
Polsby apparently remained ignorant of the many alterate history
stories that had already appeared before 1982.)

     There are sixteen "speculations" here, but only a few of them are
stories in any sense.  Most of them are full of phrases such as "If
Napoleon had gotten appendicitis, then he wouldn't have invaded
Russia," where a story would say, "Napoleon got appendicitis.  Because
of that, his planned invasion of Russia was postponed and eventually
cancelled."  (This may seem like a picayune distinction, but it is mine
own.)  And the titles are not those of stories, but of historical
speculations.  For example, Paul Seabury's "What If George Washington
Had Been Captured by General Howe?" is a story (barely), but doesn't
sound like one.  Other stories include Robert H. Salisbury's "What If
Marbury V. Madison and the Impeachment of John Marshall" (Polsby
doesn't seem very concerned about the syntax of his titles, that's for
sure), Roger D. Masters's "What If Napoleon Had Not Invented Russia?,"
Kenneth Minogue's "What If Karl Marx Had Drowned in a Cross-Channel
Ferry Accident?," "What If Peter Had Been Pope During World War II?,
Peter M. Williams's "What If Hugh Gaitskell Had Become Prime
Minister?," Charles O. Jones's "What If There Had Been a Nixon
Presidency Without Watergate?," and Shlomo Avinei's "What If  Sadat Had
Come to Jerusalem Under a Labor Government?"  Of these, only "Peter"
has characters, dialogue, and the other accoutrements of a story.

     WHAT IF...? is more interesting as an example of what can go wrong
when someone unfamiliar with a field tries to preach to its audience,
than as a collection of alternate stories, or even of particularly
original ideas.  Since it's out of print, I can only say that you
should not spend more than a few dollars on this if you see it in a
used bookstore.

%E   Polsby, Nelson W. Jr.
%B   What If...?
%I   Lewis Publishing Company
%C   Lexington, Massachusetts
%D   1982
%G   ISBN 0-86616-018-3
%P   200pp
%O   hardcover, $12.95

--
Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | [email-masked]
There's always an easy solution to every human problem -
neat, plausible, and wrong. -- H.L. Mencken