Thursday, October 24, 2013

Ecstatic Nation and Aternate History

I am reading this book, http://www.amazon.com/Ecstatic-Nation-Confidence-Compromise-1848-1877/dp/0061234575, by Amy Wineapple.  I enjoy her writing, and it got me thinking too.

I have read works of alternative history by Harry Turtledove.  He wrote a series of books about how the world might have turned if the South had won the Civil War, and an alternate universe had occurred.  Wineapple's history raises the question: what would have occurred if the Compromise of 1836 had not succeeded?  Or the compromise of 1850?

How would the war(s) have differed if different personalities had led the various units and states?  If the South had a military leader other than Lee?  If the North had a different President other than Lincoln?