User:Jack Sebastian/Making History (novel)

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{.{Infobox book| | name = Making History | title_orig = | translator = | image = Stephen Fry- Making History.jpg | caption = | author = Stephen Fry | illustrator = | cover_artist = | country = United Kingdom | language = English | series = | subject = | genre =

Alternative history, time travel
| publisher =
Hutchinson
| pub_date = 1996 | english_pub_date = | media_type = Print (hardback & paperback) | pages = 380 | isbn = 0-09-179141-3 | isbn_note = [1] | dewey = 823/.914 21 | congress = PR6056.R88 M34 1996 | oclc = 42725962 | preceded_by = | followed_by = }}

Making History (1996) is the third novel by Stephen Fry. The plot involves the creation of an alternative historical time line, one where Adolf Hitler never existed. While most of the book is written in standard [.[prose]], a couple of chapters are written in the format of a screenplay. The book won the [.[Sidewise Award for Alternate History]].

Plot

Changing history

The story is told in

well in Braunau am Inn so that Hitler's father will drink from it, become infertile
, and Hitler will never be born.

Consequences

When Michael awakens he is completely disoriented. He soon discovers that he is in the United States, at Princeton University. Everyone he encounters is surprised that he is speaking with an English accent. It takes some time for Michael's memory to return. He realises that his plan was successful, history has changed, and for some reason his parents must have moved to America. Initially he is elated and tells his new friend Steve how happy he is because Steve has never heard of Hitler, Braunau am Inn, or the Nazi Party. Steve corrects Michael and reveals that he is well aware of the Nazi Party.

Michael begins to discover the history of this new world. It turns out that without Hitler, a new leader emerged, Rudolf Gloder, who was equally ruthless. In fact, Michael and Zuckerman have replaced Hitler with a Nazi leader who was even more charming, patient, and effective, and as committed to the Final Solution as Hitler had been.

In this

George VI). Jews are exiled to a "Jewish Free State" within the former Yugoslavia, where most of this world's Holocaust occurs. The United States develops nuclear weapons in 1941, leading to a Cold War between Nazi Germany, its satellites, and the United States. The latter has never gone to war against the Japanese Empire in the Pacific
.

As a result, this United States has become far more

gay pride
marches, urban gay communities, and a mass social movement in Michael's world of origin, regarding it as "utopian". Much to his surprise, Michael reciprocates Steve's feelings.

Michael is apprehended by the authorities, who believe that he is a possible

sterilise the European Jews, wiping them out in one generation. In a cruel twist of fate, the person who perfected the synthesis was Dietrich Bauer. Once more his physicist son, Axel, is wracked with guilt and has developed a Temporal Imager. With Michael and Steve's help, they plan to send a dead rat to poison the well so that it will be pumped clean of the sterilising water. As they begin to do this, they are interrupted by the federal agents
that apprehended Michael earlier and they end up shooting Steve, who dies in Michael's arms just as the time alteration occurs.

Changing history again

Time changes again. Expecting the disorientation, Michael comes to his senses faster now and discovers that almost everything is back to how it was, except that his favourite band, Oily-Moily, never existed. He gives up his career in academia, figuring he can at least make some money "writing" the songs that he remembers from the previous reality. Finally, Michael is reunited with Steve, who also remembers the previous reality. Their gay relationship is no longer criminal.

Reception

Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times found the comic tone of the book "shockingly tasteless" and "deeply offensive" given the subject matter.[2]

See also

  • Axis victory in World War II
(There are numerous World War II alternative history texts wherein events during the war occurred differently from those in history. The most common variant of these detail the victory and survival of Nazi Germany.)

References

{.{Reflist}}

External links

{.{DEFAULTSORT:Making History (Novel)}} [.[Category:1996 British novels]] [.[Category:1996 science fiction novels]] [.[Category:Novels about Adolf Hitler]] [.[Category:British science fiction novels]] [.[Category:Novels by Stephen Fry]] [.[Category:Sidewise Award for Alternate History winning works]] [.[Category:Alternate Nazi Germany novels]] [.[Category:British LGBT novels]] [.[Category:Books by Stephen Fry]] [.[Category:English novels]] [.[Category:LGBT speculative fiction novels]] [.[Category:1990s LGBT novels]] [.[Category:Novels with gay themes]]

  1. ^ Notice of the [.[British Library]], retrieved 19 July 2009.
  2. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/21/books/books-of-the-times-plotting-to-erase-hitler-from-history.html
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