Review: An Alternate History of the Netherlands by J.L. Avey

Guest post by Sean Korsgaard.

Any prospective Alternate Historian has their handful of pet scenarios they cherish and develop over time, crafting an alternate Earth of their own design to varying ends. Mitro has his world where World War I is still on-going a century later, with horrifying results for all involved. I have my attempts to turn the CSA into a Communist Dictatorship. And in the case of Justin Avey (author of the short story "The End"), better known to the various AH online communities as The Kiat, he has crafted the very detailed and aptly named An Alternate History of the Netherlands.

As you might have guessed by the title, both the TL, and in this case, the history book style narrative covers the close to five-hundred year history of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, or it’s alternate historical counterpart here. Starting with an initial POD with the formative period of the Dutch nation during the Forty Years War (aka, the OTL Eighty Years War) and a more successful bridging of the gap between the Calvinists in the north and the Catholics in the south, the result is a stronger Netherlands from its first inception, one that over the following centuries, will expand, shrink, experience glory, victory, pain and defeat, and effect the world in a myriad of ways large and small, ranging from its early Union with Denmark-Norway, it’s perennial wars with its British rivals, to the shaping of the modern world.

The execution of the history book style AH is both admirable in scope and flush with details large and small, many of which have groundings firmly in our own history, adding both a pretext of plausibility to the proceedings. This is especially fantastic considering the often overlooked or ignored history of the Dutch in our own world – like any truly great work of alternate history, it left me just as curious about OTL and ATL, and I often found myself reading up on the details of Dutch history in our world to see where they match or don’t match on our own world, making the experience all the richer. The prose of the tome even manages to perfectly capture that textbook fell without falling prey to the common dry and dull approach to history many textbooks have.

The World of An Alternate History of the Netherlands in 2012.

It’s not without its flaws mind you – it is a lengthy work, and like any textbook, a few pictures to intersperse the work would have gone a long way into breaking up the pages after pages of text, especially given there are some prime opportunities to plug in some of the fantastic maps and battle formations that initially attracted me to the online version of Avey’s project. Much the same, it could have benefited from a proofreader or test reader – there is the occasional misspelling and awkward passage that distracted from an otherwise superbly written narrative. These flaws, though minor, do keep the work from being a must look at.

That said, An Alternate History of the Netherlands is worth a look for fans of Avey’s work online, those interested in Dutch history, alternate or otherwise, or those with an interest an textbook style alternate history – given just how many of the folks who dabble in AH have our own alternate worlds we have lovingly crafted, this serves as a fine example of how one might consider porting your labors into a textbook style work, as well as the potential of in depth alternate histories of often overlooked historical nations – given just how much I learned about the Dutch from this, I’d love to see a few other nations get such treatment in the future.

As for the rest of you, I urge you to look around Avey’s blog, see some of the stuff he’s worked on the story with over the years, and if it piques your interest, defiantly give this a look – if Avey ever makes an amended version with maps and fixing a few of the spelling errors, this could well prove to be one of the best examples of textbook alternate history on the market, and even without, it’s still highly recommended. Given the chance, take a look at the nonsuch Netherlands Avey has crafted, one grounded in our own history yet wild enough to craft a world in Amsterdam’s own image – I have no doubt more than a few of you will gain a greater appreciation for the Dutch beyond dikes and wooden shoes, but as a people who helped shape modern economics and politics, alternate history or otherwise.

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Soldier, scholar, writer and web-voyeur, Sean CW Korsgaard has been active in the alternate history community since 2006, and was recently elected to succeed Mitro as President of the Alternate History Online Facebook group. In addition to his contributions at the Alternate History Weekly Update, he writes for several websites, including his own, which can be found here.

Review: "Clopton's Short History of the Confederate States of America 1861-1925" by Carole Scott

Grade: B-

My favorite history professor once said that every historian's bias is apparent in their writing.  This bias is usually shaped by the culture they grew up in, among other factors.  Thus an American from one of the northern states might write a history of the American Civil War and end up demonizing the Confederacy, even if he had no intent whatsoever to do so when he started writing.  Bias is often written into works unintentionally and even a good author has difficulty finding and removing it.  What if that historian, however, came from the Confederate States of America?

Clopton's History of the Confederate States of America, 1861 - 1925 by Carole Elizabeth Scott is a textbook alternate history written by a fictional Confederate historian and an alternate version of Scott in a world where the Confederacy won the American Civil War (or Second Revolutionary War as it is called in this ATL).  Major changes included the early death of president-elect Lincoln and Howell Cobb becoming President of the CSA.

This book provided an excellent example of how history professors have biases that can shape how the history is presented. The story successfully demonstrates the likely difference between how a victorious Confederate historian would have viewed events and the Confederate practice of slavery. At times I found myself wanting to go on the Internet and attack the fictional Clopton's theories on slavery.  If slavery was preferable to wage labor in the North, why did the South need a Fugitive Slave Act?  I had to stop myself, however, and remember the point of the novel.  Clopton is biased and to truly grasp the history of this alternate Confederacy you have to read between the lines.

I wish I could have given this novel a better review, but there were some major flaws that prevented me.  First, there were the usual grammar-errors found in self-published works, including a weird habit of using periods when commas were appropriate (and vice-versa).  Then there is the fact that you can only get Clopton's Short History in paperback form.  That might not be so bad, unless you consider the actual amount of allohistorical content available.  Close to half of the book is made up of short OTL bios of the many historical persons mentioned throughout the novel.  In an age where I have access to vast amount of historical data from my cell phone, having such a large appendix of OTL information is unnecessary.

Clopton's Short History is a well research and written novel of the Confederacy that has a unique take on the genre.  I still recommend the novel, despite some of its flaws, though I hope to see it in e-book form soon.

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Mitro is founder, editor and contributor of Alternate History Weekly Update. When he is not busy writing about his passion for alternate history, he spends his time working as a licensed attorney in the state of Illinois and dreams of being a published author himself one day.

Pros and Cons of Textbook AH

In a recent post about how an author took their online alternate history and turned it into a novel, one of contributors Korsgaard left this interesting comment:

Wow! All of the textbook style TLs have a publication potential now!

This got me thinking textbook alternate history in general.  Certainly they are not ignored by the community.  When Angels Wept by Eric G. Swedin won the Sidewise Award in 2010 and For Want of a Nail by Robert Sobel won the 1997 Sidewise Award for special achievement in alternate history and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.  The question remains: are textbook alternate histories the way to go?  Here are some pros and cons to consider:

Pros

Alternate Historians Love Them: True fans of the genre will spend money on books, anthologies, comics, etc. with a narrative format, but they will also spend significant amount of their own time on forums, wikis and other online communities discussing and sharing their own original works.  These original pieces of alternate history tend to be in the textbook format, with pictures, maps and footnotes included.  Publishing a textbook alternate history is an easy way to reach the diehard fanboys.

Easier to Write: Narratives are hard to write.  It takes years of practice and some skill to be an effective story teller.  It is difficult to capture real life drama using the printed word.  Just look at some of these articles if you do not believe me.  Textbook, however, do not require the level of creative writing necessary to write a successful narrative.  An educated and experienced writer can produce a good quality textbook.

Cons

Smaller Audience: Alternate history is already a niche market, but it is not impossible for a good story to reach a larger audience.  Textbook alternate history, however, may have even a smaller chance.  History is already an unpopular subject for many people, so a wider audience may be even less interested in reading a textbook of fake history then they would reading a textbook of real history.

Plausibility Hounds are Looking for Blood: Alternate historians are notorious for demanding a high level of plausibility, but some will let it slide for narratives in deference to the "rule of cool".  Textbook alternate histories, however, will not get such a pass.  A writer willing to write a textbook alternate history must have his facts in order.

Conclusion

Every style of storytelling has its advantages and disadvantages.  A good writer has to weigh the pros and cons of each and consider their own comfort level.  Remember that when you sit down to write your next novel.

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Mitro is founder, editor and contributor of Alternate History Weekly Update. When he is not busy writing about his passion for alternate history, he spends his time working as a licensed attorney in the state of Illinois and dreams of being a published author himself one day.