There are a number of books by 'serious' historians exploring what might have
happened 'if....'. The contingency of particular historical events/phenomena
is one which historians have to be aware of, so imagining 'alternative
histories' bears the same relation to real history as extrapolative science
fiction to 'real science'. I.e. they both have some connection to the demands
of an intellectual discipline with rules of procedure, standards of evidence,
and criteria by which to judge plausibility.
This is clearly different from fantasy: few fantasy writers use history as
anything more than decoration (though there are some superb exceptions--e.g.
Barbara Hambly's Gil in the Darwath sequence is in fact a medieval historian
and uses her knowledged of the role of economics, climate, physical geography
etc on what happens to societies to elucidate what's going on).
Lesley
Lesley_Hall@classic.msn.com
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