For Want of a Nail: If Burgoyne Had Won at Saratoga

Rating:
Summary: The greatest work of alternate history that I have ever read
Review: For Want of a Nail is a singular work in published alternate history. Unlike the masses of fictional works set in alternate worlds, and the occasional description of an alternate history for the purposes of overt what-if questions and roleplaying sourcebooks, its format is of a nonfiction book from an alternate world. Specifically, a history book written just like a real history book, but detailing the history of an alternate timeline. The writer, Robert Sobel, is a business historian and he has written a book that (other than the fact that the events it describe never happened), is distinguishable from a real history only by the copyright page and the subtitle "If Burgoyne had Won at Saratoga". It comes complete with footnotes (and rather interesting ones), a bibliography consisting of fictional books and some very old but real works, an introductory map, and a critique by another historian (fictional, one assumes, though it may be one of Sobel's real-world colleagues in disguise).

As suggested by its format, For Want of a Nail reads like a history book (one focusing on political and economic history primarily, with occasional references to social and military history). It is thus a bit dry if you don't like reading history books, but personally I found the attention to even the smallest colorful details fascinating, while the book as a whole moved along at a good clip - it's about 400 pages of actual text, in the format of a survey history of an alternate North America. It covers 200 years, from the American Revolution to the time when Sobel actually wrote the book (1971). If it were a real history book, it would be considered a fairly interesting one.

My opinion is pretty easy to sum up - I consider For Want of a Nail to be the greatest work of alternate history that I have ever read, bar none.

Rating:
Summary: I read this great book twice in two weeks
Review: I have read my share of historical fiction, military nonfiction and sci fi. A friend of mine who graduated from West Point told me that one of his military tactics professors had been suggesting this book to cadets for years. He read it and has been suggesting it to his friends. This book is a jewel on so many levels. Who could come up with the idea of a text book from a class from an alternative future? I looked into it and Sobel had written several real text books! This alternative history has a text book feel, but is far more interesting than any text I have read. I like this book so much that I bought a couple more by Sobel, including his Coolidge book. I give this book my highest rating. I bet I'll read it again in a couple of years.

Rating:
Summary: The best Sci- Fi Book I have ever read- no contest!
Review: I started reading alternative histories about four years ago. I bought this one after reading that it won the Sidewise Award for Alterative History. Now I know why. I found the detailed history that Sobel constructed to be compelling. You do not have to be a history buff to enjoy this book, but it would likely help. This is the first five star review that I am leaving for a Sci-Fi book and I have left many.

Rating:
Summary: Better than I had Hoped
Review: I was a bit hesitant getting For Want of a Nail..., mainly because I've heard from various places that it is a "fictional textbook", and so might be drier than Death Valley at noon. But when I actually started reading it I was quite surprised to be totally absorbed in the narrative, even the really dry parts were at least slightly interesting. A survey from the doomed Revolution (where our Founding Fathers are held with complete contempt) to an uneasy (and completely different) Cold War in the early seventies. A really fascinating part of the narrative is how one event 200 years ago can vastly change the history of the entire world...by the time you get to "today" all the names are unrecognizable, as are many parts of the world map. Sobel even puts down an extensive list of "source material" from historical texts that never existed, but don't ignore them though because they sometimes provide interesting foreshadowing for the rest of the chapter/book. I have a feeling that octopus-like companies like the Kramer Associates are going to become a major factor in our own future. In For Want of a Nail... they provide a third party to the CNA and USM, a nation in all aspects but doesn't own any land. And oddly enough I actually agreed with many of Dr. Dana's points at the end of the book, which made me like it even more. One minor point of contention: the British seem to invest the CNA with a LOT of autonomy, nearly too much to be believable at some points. But basically it is worth every penny. Stop reading this and buy it now!

Rating:
Summary: A surprisingly easy read
Review: I was pleasantly surprised how quickly I got through this book. My paperback version does not have a map - that's my only complaint. The story is easy to follow. And you don't need to be an expert on American history to understand this alternate history.

Anybody know where I can see a map? Maybe online?

Rating:
Summary: My history professor brother and I recommend this book
Review: It seemed to take forever for me to finish reading this book -- although it really took over a month. The book is an alternative history, the imaginings of an historian as to what history would have been like had Burgoyne won at Saratoga as opposed to Schuyler, Gates, and Arnold. The book begins well but, as it continues, it becomes less logical. There are a number of factors the author does not take into account or simply ignores -- for example, that Mexico in 1776 was controlled by Spain, that the Spanish Inquisition would not have permitted the mostly-Protestant rebels from the English colonies to flee into Mexico, and that the majority of the rebels probably would have rather faced the hangman's rope at the hands of the British that to put themselves under the reign of the Spanish king. It also ignores the latent anti-Semitism of Germany -- or is it that the author has some anti-Semitic leanings since the Jews as a group are never mentioned but the Palestinian Arabs are? I do not recommend this book.

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Summary: Virtual, not alternative history
Review: This book is not a work of alternative history: no dashing heroes in a time where because of the intervention of aliens / visitors from the future / work of magic ... the world changed. No this is a work of - to borrow a title from Niall Ferguson - virtual history. A battle was lost, or won - depending on the POV.

And since in this book Saratoga was won by the British the American Revolution in fact ends but history continues. Only somewhat different ... The book tells the history of the 200 years following in this changed world. Some things never change, but for others the old proverb that is the title of this book seems true.

The only problem I have with it is that it is too ambitious - wanting to tell a world history with emphasis on North America in some detail - and therefore needing 450 pages! After some time it becomes tiresome.

The best works of alternative history keep the virtual history, the background of their novels, short but insert it as by-the-way tales once so often. One of the best examples for that is „The Two Georges". This book is virtual history pure. Very interesting and entertaining for someone knowledgeable in actual history. But a bore or worse for someone who is not.

Rating:
Summary: Astonishing in its depth
Review: This book is truly one of the most unique I have ever read, although I'm not sure that describing it as fiction properly serves the book or the reader.

Of course, it is fiction, but if you're looking for characters and plot in the traditional sense, you won't find any. A more accurate description of this book would be as a text book of a hsitory that never was.

Sobel starts with the premise that Burgoyne won at Saratoga, thereby leaving our young republic still-born. He then proceeds to recount 200 years of "history" of the Commonwealth of North America and its rival, the United States of Mexico. The depth into which he delves is nothing short of astonishing, and the rigor he imposes on the work is equally amazing.

As one might guess, I enjoyed this book immensely, but it's not a book I would recommend broadly. If you are not a reader of serious history, it is pretty much assured that you will not enjoy this book. It strives for accuracy and reality in a way that is refreshing, but which could easily overwhelm the unprepared, or unmotivated reader.

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat dry but thoroughly fascinating
Review: This may well be the most intricate, detailed, and plausible alternate history ever written. Unlike most works of AH it tells the COMPLETE story of its parallel timeline, not just a few events. Rather than a novel covering the lives of a few specific characters, it is written in the form of a history textbook (complete with charts, tables, footnotes, and a map) telling the history of two whole nations, from founding to the present day (the 1970s). Though some might find the textbook format bland and boring, the author's fascinating extrapolations were more than enough to keep me hooked.

When I was younger, I always thought that fictional history was much more interesting than real-life history. I would spend hours reading Role-Playing textbooks just to learn the history of fantasy worlds. Even now that I'm a big fan of real history, I've found that fictional history still holds a special place in my heart. I read this book in about five days, whereas a "real" history text would probably take much longer.

The story: Britain won the Battle of Saratoga, and the American rebellion was crushed. In order to prevent further resentment, the Thirteen Colonies were combined with Canada to form the Confederation of North America (CNA). Although still part of the British Empire, this new nation was granted an extensive degree self-government, and soon became a major economic power.

Many of the former revolutionaries, however, were not happy with this arrangement. These men fled to Texas, where they formed the independent nation of Jefferson. After intervening in a local squabble in Mexico, they arranged for Jefferson and Mexico to be united as one nation, called the United States of Mexico (USM). Although not as stable as the CNA, this continent-spanning republic also became a major player on the world stage.

For Want of a Nail tells the story of the CNA and the USM in great detail. Political and economic trends are discussed in depth, including state-by-state descriptions of elections (both nations develop variations of our familiar republican system). There is also abundant information on important personalities and technological developments. Although military history is not Sobel's strong point, there were enough wars to keep me reading. Events in the rest of the world are not covered in great detail, but there is enough information to give a general idea of what is going on.

It might bore some, but serious lovers of alternate history are in for a real treat.

Rating:
Summary: best addresses the themes it never raises directly
Review: To appreciate Sobel's _For Want of a Nail: If Burgoyne Had Won at Saratoga_, it is necessary to read the book on two levels. The first is explicit, and asks what North American would have come to look like between 1778 and 1972 had the American Revolution failed and the Thirteen Colonies remained part of the British Empire. The second is implicit, and addresses what would have become of a world in which classical liberalism and the Enlightenment failed to triumph over conservative forces in North America and Europe in the late 18th century. I find the second theme of the book far more compelling, much more so than the first, which leads Sobel to be bogged down in marginally relevant detail.

As Sobel reviews the fictitious history of the Confederation of North America and the United States of Mexico, the two polities spawned from the Thirteen Colonies in the 1780s, following the defeat of the "North American Rebellion," a number of lacunae become evident,! gaps in logic that reduce the overall persuasiveness of the work. For starters, there are no maps to accompany the text besides a very inadequate one-page map of all of North America that basically indicates the relative size of the CNA and USM. Given that the British victory in the Rebellion served to change the name--and in many cases the location--of nearly every town and city in North America (where is Jefferson City? is Michigan City an alternative Chicago?), we need numerous maps to permit readers to situate themselves geographically. Going beyond maps, Sobel documents his text with fictitious sources that represent hypothetical historical scholarship from this alternative world. While an interesting literary device, the sources seem clumsily devised, and each sources seems miraculously to agree with every point that Sobel wants to make. Were one of my own undergraduates to present me with a paper so documented, I would immediately be suspicious.

I also have ser! ious reservation with Sobel's depiction of the political cu! ltures of the CNA and USM. For starters, the Confederation of North America remained under the Crown, and continued to be part of the Empire. This was the actual case for Canada and Australia during the 19th century, and in both states, attachment to Britain and the Crown remained a very important part of daily life. It was relatively late in the game that Canada and Australia received direct control over such things as foreign policy. In the CNA, attachment to Britain seemed to fade almost immediately upon the implementation of the Britannic Design, and the new nation seemed to receive full autonomy immediately, something the Colonial Office in London *never* allowed. As the oldest sister of the former colonies, the CNA's refusal to join the Commonwealth around 1900 is peculiar, and indeed implausible. Further, Sobel implies that settlement of Australia and New Zealand proceeded apace after 1788, even though the impetus for their colonization was, in fact, the departure! of the United States from the Empire.

The United States of Mexico is an even more peculiar case. The USM is an indirect spin-off of the CNA, as several leaders of the Rebellion, such as Alexander Hamilton, refused to live under the Crown in the CNA. Yet the USM resembles the present day United States very little. It has only a sporadic democratic tradition, and displays remarkable political instability. Sobel never really gives a global theory for this instability (which would in fact be a critique of American republicanism), instead merely unfavorably contrasting it to the CNA. Similarly, Sobel portrays the USM as a m‚lange of Anglo, Hispano, Mexicano, and Indian. While Sobel discusses the mutual resentments among the groups in a superficial way, he never explores in more depth the tensions between two major linguistic groups of Mexico. While the Spanish are a clear majority, and provide most of the political leaders, there is never a source in Spanish cited among t! he footnotes. Surely the English-Spanish divide would be t! he most important cleavage in the USM!

There are other minor irritations that accumulate throughout _For Want of a Nail_. The invention of federalism was one of the most intricate and delicate accomplishments of the Constitutional Convention in 1788, while in Sobel's world, it is pounded out in a weekend in London in 1783. Inventions like air travel, automobiles, and telephones appear before the 19th century is through (though the names of the devices are inexplicably changed), but the atomic bomb cannot be built before 1960, and computers never appear at all. This rapid technological advancement, moreover, never seems to affect politics; Sobel only mentions in passing that politicians occasionally appeared on the medium of "vitavision." Television, on the other hand, changed politics beyond recognition.

Finally, one of the cardinal rules of international relations is that democracies do not make war upon one another. Indeed, there are few, if any, examples ! of this in all of history. In Sobel's world, on the other hand, the CNA and USM fight the Rocky Mountain War while both are fully democratic. Similarly, during the Global War, Germany, Japan, Britain, and to a limited degree, the USM, are all parliamentary democracies, and the German "emperor" Bruning is soon deposed by a non-confidence vote!

The history of this alternative North America is most unsatisfactory, but some of the larger questions raised in the fictitious rebuttal that ends the book are much more provocative, though Sobel never states or addresses any of them directly. As "Frank Dana" writes, the core of the thesis is that Burgoyne's victory at Saratoga changed the course of history and made the world an entirely different place. The world is different because Enlightenment philosophy is discredited and a more conservative, pro-monarchy, evolutionary approach to politics takes its place. Sobel argues that his fictitious world is a more h! appy and stable place as a result, and this is the unspoken! thesis that needed to be considered in more detail. Perhaps _For Want of a Nail_ would have been more persuasive had it been an alternative world history written from this same premise.