One of the most famous note works of Alternate History fiction ever written. One so controversial that it's been banned in several countries.
Written by the mysterious Hawthorne Abendsen, the novel depicts a world in which Franklin D. Roosevelt survived his assassination attempt in 1939. However, to honor the two-term limit of George Washington, he decides not to run in the next election. His successor, Rexford Tugwell, decides to move the Pacific Fleet out of Pearl Harbor, sparing them from the attack by the Japanese. This ensures America remains a strong naval power and enters the war alongside the allies.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the United Kingdom retains a great deal of its military-industrial complex and thus never falls to the Axis. Instead, not only do they halt Germany's westward expansion, they crush Rommel's campaign in North Africa before sweep in through the Caucasus to assist the Soviets at the Battle of Stalingrad. In the east, Chiang Kai-Shek defeats the communists and Nationalist China becomes as strong ally to the United States against Japan.
With British and Soviet tanks closing in on Berlin, as well as American ships closing in on Tokyo, Hitler and Hirohito surrender. The allies win World War II.
The novel is set in 1962, where a new cold war is brewing between the United States and British Empire, both seeking to secure their cultural and economic dominance over the world. Some things never change, it seems.
In case you're wondering, no, this isn't a real novel. It's actually an expansion on the Book Within A Book featured in The Man in the High Castle.
This book provides examples of:
- Alternate History: Duh.
- Balkanize Me:
- The Soviet Union loses Ukraine and Belarus, and is eventually split between America and the British Empire.
- By 2001, America splits up into 16 nations, all of which are assimilated into the British Empire.
- Banned in China: The book is illegal throughout the Greater German Reich and its territories, and ownership of it can earn you serious punishments.
- Demoted to Extra: France gets this after they are absorbed into the British Sphere.
- The Empire: The British Empire, never dismantled by the Germans, continues to grow and expand, eventually swallowing the entire world.
- Enemy Mine: You wouldn't expect a democratic America and military controlled China to ally with each other, but they are united in opposition of British Colonialism.
- Heel–Face Turn: Italy and Hungary turn away from the Axis and help the Allies bring down Germany.
- Hellhole Prison / POW Camp: Britain sets these up for asians after there is instability in places like Singapore.
- In Spite of a Nail: Even without the Axis powers, the world is still split in two by the Americans and the British.
- The Soviet Union still crumbles.
- America is still divided.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: Gandhi's death, being gunned down by British soldiers on a visit to Calcutta. The world believes it was a tragic case of mistaken identity, but many Indian nationalists believe- and the novel makes it clear- they knew exactly what they were doing.
- One World Order: By the dawn of the 21st century, the British Empire comes to dominate the world.
- Shiny New Australia: In return for their assistance during the Indian rebellion, the British promise the Sikhs their own state.
- Trauma Conga Line: The Soviet Union never catches a break, does it?
- Stalin's sudden death in 1946 leaves a power vacuum, especially since he'd purged every single one of his named successors for disloyalty.
- A nationalist uprising in Ukraine forces many Soviet forces to be moved away from the front lines to ensure supplies lines aren't broken. When they finally do break the German lines in occupied Poland, the war comes to an end not two days later, and Tugwell and Churchill decide there's no place for a communist dictatorship on the continent. The victory treaty forces them to grant independence to Ukraine and Belarus.
- A cholera outbreak kills 200,000 in Central Russia in the summer of 1947.
- The Russian civil war serves to further devastate the country, and sounds the final death knell for its existence. America occupies Siberia and the British take everything west of the Ural Mountains, creating the states of East and West Russia.
