PDF For Want of a Nail: If Burgoyne had won at Saratoga (Greenhill Military Paperback) by Robert Sobel in History

Review

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. An Alternate North AmericaBy Eric MayforthFor many history buffs; alternate history is supremely fascinating. While the most overarching historical megatrends that take many centuries to play out are arguably inevitable; individual people and changes in the outcome of smaller events can effect significant changes within history's larger framework. Robert Sobel's "For Want of a Nail" is written in the form of a history textbook that describes an alternate world in which the British won at Saratoga in 1777.The book proceeds in our timeline through the colonial era and the start of the Revolution; then diverges with the colonists' loss at Saratoga. The American defeat in the alternate world in that pivotal battle led to nonintervention on the part of France and the eventual failure of the rebellion against the mother country. As in most any era; the large part of public opinion is fickle; and most of the colonists rallied to the British banner after the redcoats established unshakable military superiority.Eventually; America was divided in half. The British and their colonists founded the Confederation of North America; and the rebels who were not killed fled the C.N.A. to present-day Texas; and eventually founded the United States of Mexico. The C.N.A. was essentially an Americanized version of Canada; and took up the North American continent east of the Rockies; minus Texas and the land southwest of the Arkansas River. The U.S.M. was essentially an Americanized version of Mexico; and included all of present-day Mexico; present-day Texas and environs; and the western third of the continent; eventually stretching north to include even Alaska and the Yukon."For Want of a Nail" is a dual history of the C.N.A. and the U.S.M.; looking at the economic; social; and political progress and development of the two countries throughout the nineteenth and most of the twentieth centuries. Relations between the two were not always peaceful; and the author almost named the tome "Scorpions in a Bottle." Even in the alternate world; there was a global war in the mid-twentieth century and a cold war of sorts that followed; and the volume looks at those events as well as the responses of the two nations to social changes that took place in both our timeline and theirs.Many of the broader historical trends (as well as technological breakthroughs) that occurred in our timeline also took place in the alternate timeline; although on slightly different timetables in many cases. Alternate history helps readers to see that there are certain roles in history that are bound to be filled by major historical figures; although the identities of those figures will be different in different timelines.Alternate history also teaches that major historical figures in one timeline (Washington; Jefferson; Adams) can meet radically different fates in another; as a result of events beyond their immediate control. The most important president of the nineteenth century in our timeline makes a mere cameo appearance in this one; and the relative of an almost-president of the mid-twentieth century in our timeline actually leads the C.N.A. a generation earlier in the timeline of "For Want of a Nail."The reader also gets to see what happens in Europe and some of the rest of the world in the alternate timeline. The bar that alternate history must clear is to be imaginative but plausible; and "For Want of a Nail" passes that test swimmingly. If you are a big fan of alternate history and have never heard of this book; don't even think twice about ordering it. It is one of the classics of the genre.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. It set the standard for alternate history...By GridironThis is a reprint of historian Robert Sobel's detailed 1973 alternate history novel; a plausible description of an American continent where the American Revolution failed. Sobel was a professor of history; and this was his only work of fiction; it contains the level of detail and perfection that only a scholar would think of (including footnotes to; and a bibliography of; books that never were). The only two disappointments are that there was never a sequel that would have updated things after 1973; and that there are no maps that would have illustrated things like the "Confederation of North America" and the "United States of Mexico". Though the two books are very different; I think that this set a high standard for the 1995 Dreyfuss/Turtledove classic (The Two Georges) to live up to.5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Words can't even describe it.By General PeteSobel has accomplished what few ever have....a true alternative history. Its one thing to have the South win the Civil War or the Nazi's World War 2 but to strive to write something as a textbook as if the events actually happened shows dedication to what you're writing and great courage.The book is amazing as it takes the reader in directions he never would have thought the "magic if" works very well here.Overall-Alternative History fans; this one is defiantly worth a look.