The Stars and Stripes trilogy is a collection of three alternate history novels written by Harry Harrison. [1]
All three novels involve the point of divergence of British involvement in the American Civil War after the Trent Affair. This happens when Prince Albert dies prematurely rather than playing his historic role in resolving the crisis. Queen Victoria blames the U.S. for his death. She authorizes her ministers to do anything necessary to ensure that the U.S. pays for it.
While 1861 is the relevant point of departure, there is another unexplained difference—the Duke of Wellington is still alive in 1862, though he remarks he has been "living on borrowed time" since his illness in 1852 (his death date in our world). This seems to date the initial point of divergence to 1852, without the butterfly effect changing intermediate occurrences, such as the course of the Crimean War.
Alternate history is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which one or more historical events have occurred but are resolved differently than in actual history. As conjecture based upon historical fact, alternate history stories propose What if? scenarios about crucial events in human history, and present outcomes very different from the historical record. Some alternate histories are considered a subgenre of science fiction, or historical fiction.
John Ericsson was a Swedish-American inventor. He was active in England and the United States.
Harry Max Harrison was an American science fiction author, known mostly for his character The Stainless Steel Rat and for his novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966). The latter was the rough basis for the motion picture Soylent Green (1973). Long resident in both Ireland and the United Kingdom, Harrison was involved in the foundation of the Irish Science Fiction Association, and was, with Brian Aldiss, co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.
"The Stars and Stripes Forever" is a march by American composer John Philip Sousa.
William R. Forstchen is an American historian and author. A Professor of History and Faculty Fellow at Montreat College, in Montreat, North Carolina, he received his doctorate from Purdue University.
Gustavus Vasa Fox was an officer of the United States Navy, who served during the Mexican–American War, and as the first Assistant Secretary of the Navy during the Civil War.
Stars & Stripes or Stars and Stripes may refer to:
Red Prophet (1988) is an alternate history/fantasy novel by American writer Orson Scott Card. It is the second book in Card's The Tales of Alvin Maker series and is about Alvin Miller, the seventh son of a seventh son. Red Prophet won the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 1989, was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1988, and the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1989.
Christopher R. Bunch was an American science fiction, fantasy and television writer, who wrote and co-wrote about thirty novels.
Tunnel Through the Deeps is a 1972 alternate history/science fiction novel by American writer Harry Harrison. It was serialized in Analog magazine beginning in the April 1972 issue.
If It Had Happened Otherwise is a 1931 collection of essays edited by J. C. Squire and published by Longmans, Green. Each essay in the collection could be considered alternate history or counterfactual history, a few written by leading historians of the period and one by Winston Churchill.
Stars and Stripes Forever is a 1952 American Technicolor film biography of the late-19th-/early-20th-century composer and band leader John Philip Sousa. This 20th Century Fox feature was produced by Lamar Trotti, directed by Henry Koster, and stars Clifton Webb, Debra Paget, Robert Wagner, and Ruth Hussey. The film's title is taken from Sousa's "The Stars and Stripes Forever", which has become the best known of his military marches. The film was released twenty years after Sousa's death.
Gray Victory is a 1988 alternate history novel by Robert Skimin, taking place in an alternate 1866 where the Confederacy won its independence.
Forever, Lulu is a 1987 West German-American comedy-mystery film directed by Amos Kollek, and starring Hanna Schygulla, Deborah Harry, Wayne Knight and Alec Baldwin in his film debut. The film features sex therapist Ruth Westheimer. It was the final film starring Beatrice Pons and R. L. Ryan.
American Civil War alternate histories are alternate history fiction that focuses on the Civil War ending differently or not occurring. The American Civil War is a popular point of divergence in English-language alternate history fiction. The most common variants detail the victory and survival of the Confederate States. Less common variants include a Union victory under different circumstances from actual history, resulting in a different postwar situation; black American slaves freeing themselves by revolt without waiting for Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation; a direct British and/or French intervention in the war; the survival of Lincoln during John Wilkes Booth's assassination attempt; a retelling of historical events with fantasy elements inserted; the Civil War never breaking out and a peaceful compromise being reached; and secret history tales. The point of divergence in such a story can be a "natural, realistic" event, such as one general making a different decision, or one sentry detecting an enemy invasion unlike in reality. It can also be an "unnatural" fantasy/science fiction plot device such as time travel, which usually takes the form of someone bringing modern weapons or hindsight knowledge into the past. Still another related variant is a scenario of a Civil War that breaks out at a different time from 1861 and under different circumstances.
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader and later Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland.
Atlantis is an alternate history series written by Harry Turtledove. The point of divergence occurs around 85 million years ago when the eastern portion of the North American continent splits off from the rest of the continent and forms Atlantis, a separate continent farther east in the Atlantic Ocean.
Bibliography of science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction and nonfiction writer Harry Turtledove: