Posted by italyprof on 12/4/2012 6:24:00 AM (view original):
By the way, again thanks to whomever it was - mensu1954, or Grizzly, or someone, wish I could find the post, who turned me on to the series of alternative historical novels of Harry Turtledove - read the whole thing (like 14 books or something) from the Civil War to the end of World War II and it was worth every page.
Glad you enjoyed.
If you liked that, try his 2 part series that had Japan follow up Pearl Harbor with an invasion of Hawaii. I think the first book is "Days of Infamy". Obviously, not a good thing for the civilian population of the islands
He also has a 4-5 book set, still in progress, where Neville Chamberlain didn't cave in over Chechoslovakia, and WWII came a few years early for France and England. Not quite as good, but still interesting. Among other things, Rudolph Hess is successful on his mission to negotiate a cease fire, and Winston Churchill gets assassinated.
Finaly, he has some very good stand alone novels... One of which, "Ruled Brittania", stars William Shakespeare as the main character in an England which lost to the Spanish Armada. Let me know when you figure out who Constable Strawberry is based on. "In the Presence of Mine Enemies" tells the story of an English jewish family after nazi Germany conquered the world. You'll find similarities to the collapse of the Soviet Union in this one.
You should probably pass on the Videssos series unless you can deal with some fantasy... but it's very well researched and very true to the nature of Rome.