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101 Stumbles in the March of History: What If the Great Mistakes in War, Government, Industry, and Economics Were Not Made?
An all-new compendium of 101 historic screw-ups from the author of 100 Mistakes that Changed History.
DID I DO THAT???
When asked to name a successor, Alexander the Great declared that his empire should go “to the strongest”. . . but would rival factions have descended into war if he’d been a little more specific?
What if the Vienna School of Art took a chance on a hopeful young student named Adolf Hitler?
If Pope Clement VII granted King Henry VIII an annulment, England would likely still be Catholic today—and so would America.
Bill Fawcett, author of 100 Mistakes That Changed History, offers a compendium of 101 all-new mammoth mistakes—from the ill-fated rule of Emperor Darius III to the equally ill-fated search for WMDs in Iraq—that will, unfortunately, never be forgotten by history.
DID I DO THAT???
When asked to name a successor, Alexander the Great declared that his empire should go “to the strongest”. . . but would rival factions have descended into war if he’d been a little more specific?
What if the Vienna School of Art took a chance on a hopeful young student named Adolf Hitler?
If Pope Clement VII granted King Henry VIII an annulment, England would likely still be Catholic today—and so would America.
Bill Fawcett, author of 100 Mistakes That Changed History, offers a compendium of 101 all-new mammoth mistakes—from the ill-fated rule of Emperor Darius III to the equally ill-fated search for WMDs in Iraq—that will, unfortunately, never be forgotten by history.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
400 pages, Paperback
Published September 6, 2016
About the author
Bill Fawcett
122 books45 followersBill Fawcett has been a professor, teacher, corporate executive, and college dean. His entire life has been spent in the creative fields and managing other creative individuals. He is one of the founders of Mayfair Games, a board and role-play gaming company. As an author, Fawcett has written or coauthored over a dozen books and dozens of articles and short stories. As a book packager, a person who prepares series of books from concept to production for major publishers, his company, Bill Fawcett & Associates, has packaged more than 250 titles for virtually every major publisher. He founded, and later sold, what is now the largest hobby shop in Northern Illinois.
Fawcett’s first commercial writing appeared as articles in the Dragon magazine and include some of the earliest appearances of classes and monster types for Dungeons & Dragons. With Mayfair Games he created, wrote, and edited many of the Role Aides role-playing game modules and supplements released in the 1970s and 1980s. During this period, he also designed almost a dozen board games, including several Charles Roberts Award (gaming's Emmy) winners, such as Empire Builder and Sanctuary.
Fawcett’s first commercial writing appeared as articles in the Dragon magazine and include some of the earliest appearances of classes and monster types for Dungeons & Dragons. With Mayfair Games he created, wrote, and edited many of the Role Aides role-playing game modules and supplements released in the 1970s and 1980s. During this period, he also designed almost a dozen board games, including several Charles Roberts Award (gaming's Emmy) winners, such as Empire Builder and Sanctuary.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 8, 2016
So many fiction authors have taken on the notion of “what if” in recent years, to great success. Bill Fawcett does the same in this book of very short essays addressing major moments in history. “What if” Hitler had not been rejected from art school, or “what if” General Douglas MacArthur had halted his attack on North Korea without provoking the Chinese counter-attack, or “what if” Sandra Day O’Connor had sided with Ruth Bader Ginsberg on the vote Bush v. Gore?
The only problem with “what if” scenarios is that they are so frustrating, and so rarely fruitful. Looking back at history knowing what we know now and seeing the points of fracture…is it worth excavating reasons and imagining different scenarios? Perhaps. But one thing is sure: for historians it must be lots of fun. And that is what this book promises to historians and those who like detail-laden and provocative cocktail conversation.
Random House/NAL has just published this book of essays (September 6, 2016) filled with arguable premises and points of disagreement. For those who like short essays before bed to keep you thinking until slumber, this might be just the ticket. Sent to me in exchange for an honest opinion.
The only problem with “what if” scenarios is that they are so frustrating, and so rarely fruitful. Looking back at history knowing what we know now and seeing the points of fracture…is it worth excavating reasons and imagining different scenarios? Perhaps. But one thing is sure: for historians it must be lots of fun. And that is what this book promises to historians and those who like detail-laden and provocative cocktail conversation.
Random House/NAL has just published this book of essays (September 6, 2016) filled with arguable premises and points of disagreement. For those who like short essays before bed to keep you thinking until slumber, this might be just the ticket. Sent to me in exchange for an honest opinion.
January 9, 2021
A collection of historical turning points, though counterfactual history, as advised by my history teacher friend, is not good history. Too many unknowns make speculation not very helpful. Still a fun read, minus the obvious political commentary.
August 18, 2016
Originally posted at: http://amazingstoriesmag.com/2016/09/...
101 Stumbles in the March of History: What If the Great Mistakes in War, Government, Industry, and Economics Were Not Made? by Bill Fawcett is a book written for alternate historians. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the publisher wants to reach as wide an audience as possible (and the book is good enough to do just that), but alternate historians are the audience that needs to read this book. This is a book for them.
Anywho, 101 Stumbles is a collection of essays mostly written by Bill Fawcett, but with several other contributors including noted alternate history/SF writers like Harry Turtledove, Eric Flint and Mike Resnick. As the title suggests, the authors discuss famous historical mistakes such as the Aztec's indecisiveness over what do with the Spaniards or General MacArthur's complete refusal to see that the Chinese were getting ready to intervene in the Korean War, with the earliest mistakes coming first in the book. Thus, an alternate title for 101 Stumbles is "The Big Book of Hindsight", but to be fair Bill admits early on that they are aware of this and are using these mistakes as a teachable moment for the present and future.
As mentioned earlier, 101 Stumbles is a collection of essays, which makes it more of a counterfactual history, which is the scholarly side of the alternate history genre. The one exception is "Divine Calm" by Charles E. Gannon which is actually written like a traditional short story and where the Mongol army that invaded Japan in 1274 doesn't withdraw and gets caught in a typhoon. Flash forward to the 19th century and America has "opened" a very different Japan, one that is a rebellious province of China that is kept isolated from the rest of the world to prevent foreigners from assisting the seditious Japanese. It was actually an interesting story to read and I highly recommend it.
As for the essays themselves, the majority were well-written and researched, but the star in my opinion was William Terdoslavich. His contributions were the best organized and were, I believe, the only essays to use sub-headings to break up the different parts of his argument. I especially liked his look at how Boston used to be a center of high-tech development...until mistakes by the city's leading companies ended their chance to compete with Silicon Valley. In fact that highlights something else I really liked about 101 Stumbles. While war and politics are covered in many of the essays, the contributors weren't shy about talking about other topics, such as an amusing essay by Bill that told us about the mistake that led to chocolate chip cookies.
101 Stumbles did have some problems. Some of the more modern mistakes covered dropped the neutral tone most of the essays went for and became very political, including one which referenced the belief that global warming is a vast conspiracy (sigh). There were also some odd wordings that may have been typos, but I can't confirm if my copy was an advanced proof, so you might see them, too. My biggest issue, however, was the lack of a table of contents. I didn't realize how annoying this was until I tried to track down specific essays I enjoyed and instead had to waste time flipping through the pages until I found the right one.
That being said, I can still recommend 101 Stumbles. Many of the mistakes that Bill included are some of the most popular points of divergence in the alternate history community. I can even see some of the answers given by our cadre of historians leading to some pretty intense online discussion that would be fun to read (until someone gets banned by making it political or preaching their pet conspiracy theory). Although it does have some flaws, if you are a fan of history then you should pick up a copy of 101 Stumbles in the March of History.
101 Stumbles in the March of History: What If the Great Mistakes in War, Government, Industry, and Economics Were Not Made? by Bill Fawcett is a book written for alternate historians. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the publisher wants to reach as wide an audience as possible (and the book is good enough to do just that), but alternate historians are the audience that needs to read this book. This is a book for them.
Anywho, 101 Stumbles is a collection of essays mostly written by Bill Fawcett, but with several other contributors including noted alternate history/SF writers like Harry Turtledove, Eric Flint and Mike Resnick. As the title suggests, the authors discuss famous historical mistakes such as the Aztec's indecisiveness over what do with the Spaniards or General MacArthur's complete refusal to see that the Chinese were getting ready to intervene in the Korean War, with the earliest mistakes coming first in the book. Thus, an alternate title for 101 Stumbles is "The Big Book of Hindsight", but to be fair Bill admits early on that they are aware of this and are using these mistakes as a teachable moment for the present and future.
As mentioned earlier, 101 Stumbles is a collection of essays, which makes it more of a counterfactual history, which is the scholarly side of the alternate history genre. The one exception is "Divine Calm" by Charles E. Gannon which is actually written like a traditional short story and where the Mongol army that invaded Japan in 1274 doesn't withdraw and gets caught in a typhoon. Flash forward to the 19th century and America has "opened" a very different Japan, one that is a rebellious province of China that is kept isolated from the rest of the world to prevent foreigners from assisting the seditious Japanese. It was actually an interesting story to read and I highly recommend it.
As for the essays themselves, the majority were well-written and researched, but the star in my opinion was William Terdoslavich. His contributions were the best organized and were, I believe, the only essays to use sub-headings to break up the different parts of his argument. I especially liked his look at how Boston used to be a center of high-tech development...until mistakes by the city's leading companies ended their chance to compete with Silicon Valley. In fact that highlights something else I really liked about 101 Stumbles. While war and politics are covered in many of the essays, the contributors weren't shy about talking about other topics, such as an amusing essay by Bill that told us about the mistake that led to chocolate chip cookies.
101 Stumbles did have some problems. Some of the more modern mistakes covered dropped the neutral tone most of the essays went for and became very political, including one which referenced the belief that global warming is a vast conspiracy (sigh). There were also some odd wordings that may have been typos, but I can't confirm if my copy was an advanced proof, so you might see them, too. My biggest issue, however, was the lack of a table of contents. I didn't realize how annoying this was until I tried to track down specific essays I enjoyed and instead had to waste time flipping through the pages until I found the right one.
That being said, I can still recommend 101 Stumbles. Many of the mistakes that Bill included are some of the most popular points of divergence in the alternate history community. I can even see some of the answers given by our cadre of historians leading to some pretty intense online discussion that would be fun to read (until someone gets banned by making it political or preaching their pet conspiracy theory). Although it does have some flaws, if you are a fan of history then you should pick up a copy of 101 Stumbles in the March of History.
Read
December 2, 2016Dude. You cannot omit the Battle of Tours from the great what-ifs of history.
This was amusing enough for its type and as error-riddled as you'd expect. The last one I remember is in the Bush v. Gore chapter and a reference to "Anthony Scalia."
This was amusing enough for its type and as error-riddled as you'd expect. The last one I remember is in the Bush v. Gore chapter and a reference to "Anthony Scalia."
June 5, 2020
This book is full of small historical details that, had they been handled a different way, could have changed the world as we know it - some more important than others and some more probable than others.
December 18, 2018
An interesting survey of some of the great mistakes in history, with short essays on how they could have been avoided and how history might have progressed without them. It does suffer the typical problem of such works by focusing heavily on the 20th century and later (about 2/3 of the book), but some of their choices outside that range are rather unusual for an American book (they cover Charles XII of Sweden, for example), and you can't really fault them for pandering to their regional market. (I would have liked more Asian history, though.) I also give the book points for delving into areas alternate histories tend to overlook, like economics and entertainment. There were several arguments I questioned, particularly as we got closer to the present day, and there was at least one obvious gaffe (changing the French Revolution wouldn't alter the French and Indian War)... but none of those issues ruin the enjoyment of the book. A great read for casual history buffs or alternate history fans. (B+)
December 20, 2018
I was initially unsure how exactly to rate this book as the quality of the different stories in this book seemed to differ rather drastically. Some of them were amusing, some were fairly accurate according to my views, some were "meh", and some were downright offensive. For instance, stating that it would have been better for Germany to have stayed in WWII so we could have used the atomic bomb on German cities on page 250 left a bad taste in my mouth for the rest of the book.
I don't know what I expected from this book, but it failed to live up to most expectations I had. The conclusions were generally not well developed and in the end I don't think I would ever recommend it to someone else, so that is why I gave it the 1 star rating. Taking out the 10 or so stories I disagreed with in this book would have probably allowed me to rate the book 3 stars, but when it is all taken together it just didn't work for me.
I don't know what I expected from this book, but it failed to live up to most expectations I had. The conclusions were generally not well developed and in the end I don't think I would ever recommend it to someone else, so that is why I gave it the 1 star rating. Taking out the 10 or so stories I disagreed with in this book would have probably allowed me to rate the book 3 stars, but when it is all taken together it just didn't work for me.
September 30, 2018
It's truly amazing how many of the great stumbles of history happened in the United States of America, or by people fighting the USA - and also how many of them seem to have been made by Democratic Presidents. A partisan text hiding as an innocuous bit of fluff, and also nowhere near as funny as it thinks it is. Avoid.
September 4, 2024
I read this as my secondary book, that is why it took me so long to read. Bill Fawcett and a handful of others raise questions about how the world could be different if certain events turned out differently. Some go all the way back to 490 BC. Some changes could have been beneficial, others could have resulted in more misery. Still, it's a good book to read when you have a few extra minutes.
May 14, 2024
I learned a lot of history. When I was in High School I used to complain about that history books were all about wars, not how people lived. But I'm beginning to see the almost all of history is wars and killing and it makes me sad.
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January 8, 2023I will read this another time, I just can't handle reading about war right now.
February 12, 2017
Interesting takes on what ifs?
December 22, 2016
I found this to be interesting and well thought out look at historical mistakes.
April 13, 2017
Poorly edited. Too many military entries with excruciating detail. Even some spelling errors.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews