Alternative history may refer to a number of subjects relating to history, the chronology and study of the past. It may mean:
- Alternate history, a subgenre of speculative fiction dealing with divergences from the world's actual history
- Counterfactual history, a form of historiography which speculates on "what if" counterfactuals to actual history
- Historical revisionism, the reinterpretation of orthodox views on history or historiography
- Secret history, historical events claimed by revisionists to have been deliberately suppressed or forgotten
Famous quotes containing the words alternative and/or history:
“It is a secret from nobody that the famous random event is most likely to arise from those parts of the world where the old adage “There is no alternative to victory” retains a high degree of plausibility.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)
“Revolutions are the periods of history when individuals count most.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)