What if?

"Historians and inquisitive laymen alike love to ponder the dramatic what-its of history. In these twenty never-before-published essays, some of the keenest minds of our time ask the big, tantalizing questions: Where might we be if history had not unfolded the way it did? Why, how, and when was our fortune made real? The answers are surprising, sometimes frightening, and always entertaining."--BOOK JACKET. "In addition to the essays, fifteen sidebars by such authors as Caleb Carr, Tom Wicker, David Fromkin, and Ted Morgan illuminate in brief other world-changing episodes."--BOOK JACKET.