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:
“A mental disease has swept the planet: banalization.... Presented with the alternative of love or a garbage disposal unit, young people of all countries have chosen the garbage disposal unit.”
—Ivan Chtcheglov (b. 1934)
“In front of these sinister facts, the first lesson of history is the good of evil. Good is a good doctor, but Bad is sometimes a better.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)