The Republic of New Africa

Not so far fetched. As I recall, the Republic of Liberia was formed by freed and escaped slaves as a new home for those who chose to leave America.

The genre extends both ways - Robert Heinlein had a number of linked stories dealing with "future history." A collection volume of these was published under the title "The Past Through Tomorrow." Well worth the effort to track down a copy.

For fellow WUvians, I recommend Philip Dick's short stories and one novel "The Man In The High Ctle". A bit pessimistic in outlook but they do make you think.

Wasn't The Man in the High Castle made into a TV series? Japan & Germany ruling the US or some such?

Odd because last night I began re-reading "President Fu Manchu" by Sax Rohmer.

My favorite alternate history novel is "Guns of the South" by Turtledove. Turtledove is a legitimate historian so the novel is uncommonly accurate in all details. Except for the time machine. And the AK-47s. And the South winning. But, you know, other than those little things, it's practically a historical text.

Well honey, the south winning is the alternate part of alternate history I imagine. I seem to vaguely remember hearing about a story where a time traveler was trying to kill Hitler but another time traveler was fighting to stop the first because whatever happened in the alternate timeline was supposedly worse than the Hitler timeline.

@Patty- I remember (Vaguely) this story from either "The Twilight Zone" or "The Outer Limits". I think the plot twist was that the Nazis would have won the war if Hitler was killed?

That could be it, I just remember that it was imperative for the guy to save Hitler for the greater good in the future. Kind of like the Star Trek episode where Bones, the doctor, hits his head and wanders into a time portal cave. He ends up stepping into a street in the USA circa the early 1930's and saving a woman from getting hit by a car. The away team is stranded on the planet where the cave is because Germany won the war ect. So Kirk and Spock have to go through the porthole that takes them to a few days before Bones arrives, figure out what he did and stop it from happening. It turns out the woman he saved was a peace activist and a wonderful lady who, if she lived, would start a movement that would keep the US out of the war. Germany then wins the war and eventually takes over the world. They had to stop Bones from saving her and let her die. Very sad, especially since Kirk had fallen in love with her. Ah, the fortunes of war.

I read an in-depth analysis by political science/historians which came to the conclusion there was never a good time to kill him. If he was removed before the Nazi party gained power, communists would have taken over the country. If he was removed after the Nazi party was in power, a more radical Nazi would have stepped into his post (Hitler was actually something of a moderate!). Both situations would have led to far worse consequences.

I once tried to write a time-traveler-changes-history story. It never went beyond the opening line: "Forget the AK-47s, RPGs, and cadre of trained soldiers -- all you need for taking over 12th Century England is a tube of Preparation-H, a Zippo, and a book on beekeeping." I've always wondered what the story behind that was.

Orson Scott Card did a novel called "Pastwatch" 20 years ago. In the near future humanity can look into the past. They conclude that many of our present troubles stem from Columbus discovering the New World. They consider trying to stop his voyage, but further research shows that someone from an alternate timeline went back to convince him to make the voyage. They discover through more research that the world would be even worse if Columbus doesn't make the voyage. The empires of the New World would grow with no interference from European powers and eventually attack the rest of the world. So they have to devise a Plan B.

@Jim: I've not read any OS Card in a while... Pathfinder looks like a good read, thanks. I see he's still milking Ender too.

I liked Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker series that started with Seventh Son. I'll have to look for Pastwatch.