5215. Almost History Close Calls, Plan B's, and Twists of Fate in American History, by Roger Bruns (read 6 Nov 2014) This 2000 book consists of 81 two or three page accounts of incidents, or possible incidents, in American history. Most are of things I knew but some were not. I had never before heard that Nixon had a speech prepared in case the moon landers were stranded on the moon. Nor had I heard of how the 19th Amendment was adopted because of a mother's advice to her son in the Tennessee Legislature who had been opposed to women voting. All in all, it is a fun book to read. ( )

This book has many short stories. Each story looks at a what if the allies failed in World War II, or other such accident. Unless you are a history buff than don't waste your time on this book. ( )

Counter-factual history, perhaps better described as "'what if?' history," is evidently enjoying a certain amount of popularity these days. Small but growing numbers of people read books based on interesting premises: What if the D-Day invasion had failed? What if Napoleon had been victorious at Waterloo? What if Abraham Lincoln had lost the 1860 presidential election? What if Truman had refused to authorize the use of the atomic bomb? Taking these alternative histories as fact, historians then judge the consequences that would stem from these "roads not taken."

Counter-factual history, like most things, can be well done or poorly done. Even when well done, though, it is still fiction, regardless of the amount of research and expertise that is revealed in the study. But there are historic documents that suggest alternative histories which are not fictional imaginings, but actual archival evidence. Roger Bruns has collected several such documents in book Almost History: Close Calls, Plan B's, and Twists of Fate in America's Past.

Some of these documents are fairly well-known. Bruns opens with the hand-written statement Gen. Dwight Eisenhower had prepared before the D-Day invasion to be released if the invasion failed. And he includes the speech that was prepared for President Nixon in case the Apollo 11 moon landing had failed and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had died on the moon.

Bruns also includes some very intriguing material, including Richard Nixon's application to become an FBI agent, which he submitted just before he graduated from college. Bruns also includes an unsent reply from President Truman to Sen. Eugene McCarthy about alleged Communist infiltrations in the government. (Truman, it has been discovered, wrote several letters in anger that he never sent during the course of his presidency -- it is unknown whether he meant to send them and thought better or if it was simply an anger-management exercise.)

Bruns' definition of "almost history" is very slippery, and he includes all sorts of actual history too, suggesting it as ironic or contrary to contemporary wisdom. Some of these are interesting, but some also feel rather forced -- that Bruns needed to bulk up the book a little.

On the whole, however, this is a pleasant and unconventional consideration of American history. Bruns offers contextual introductions for each document, and then includes text of the document (if fairly short) or from the document (if longer). ( )