レビュー要約

• 歴史改変の大胆な発想に、喜劇性、ロマンス、スリラー的な推進力を重ねた、知的で読みやすい作品として評価されている。歴史を誰が作るのかという問いへの鋭い視点も注目される。

レビュー

• But the print was great

  Promt delivery but the book has yellowed pages. But the print was great

• Well-written and captivating.

  A very interesting read that manages to deal with time travel and it's paradoxes in a manner that, not only makes sense, but gives you a real feeling of the disorientation it causes the characters. It is fun and fast paced, while still exploring tge characters in depth. I would definitely recommend this book.

• I am delighted to have done so

  Being an unashamed fan of alternate history or "what if" novels, I ordered this book as soon as I discovered a reference to it in a customer's review of a different "changed past" novel. I am delighted to have done so. I am a great fan of Stephen Fry as a television host and film actor, but this is the first time I have delved into one of his books. The premise that the world might be a better place had Hitler never even been born is not exactly new, and nor is the premise that in fact his early death or non-existence might have actually made things worse. A lot worse, even. After all, the conditions which led to the Nazis' rise to power in post-World War 1 Germany would have existed whether Hitler was around or not, and a different Fuhrer might just have guided Germany to the world domination which Hitler himself failed to achieve. Here Stephen Fry creates Rudi Gloder, who becomes Fuhrer of Germany in an alternative history, and much of the world (especially Europe and most especially Russia) suffers greatly for it. In fact, what would have been needed to stop the Nazi rise to power would have been for World War 1 to never happen, a premise which Ben Elton dealt in his excellent recent novel "Time And Time Again", and in which book the Law of Unintended Consequences also becomes all too apparent as things don't map out at all as its characters intended. If you are going to sterilise anybody by the use of a male contraceptive dropped back in time (as is the premise of Making History), rather make Kaiser Bill's father incapable of siring children, not Hitler Senior. But that is bye the bye. This is obviously all fat-fetched fiction, and, as always when it's in the hands of a writer with a fertile imagination, this alternate history work is a fascinating read. Yes, I have a few issues with "Making History." It takes a long time to hit its stride, and I fail to see the need for several of its chapters to be written in the style of a screenplay. Furthermore, as another reviewer here has written, I probably would have liked the book even better had the alternate history part been set in Nazi Europe and not in an America which, for reasons not explained, is openly homophobic and, racist, engaged in a cold war with Europe, and overrun with secret police. Yet these American scenes are handled extremely well, as the realization gradually dawns on the reader that the country is a an increasingly far cry from the USA that we know today, and not in good ways. Obviously we will never know just what America or Europe might have been like had there been no Hitler, but Fry's imagining of it is as realistic and valid as any other potential scenario. Despite a few quibbles, I am content to give "Making History" five stars out of five,. Once I became accustomed to the author's somewhat peculiar and rambling writing style in the early chapters, I simply could not put it down., I finished all 500 plus pages in two sittings, and missed episodes of some of my favourite TV shows while doing so. And ultimately, isn't this desire to be so engrossed in a story that we are happy to skip other pleasurable pursuits one of the principal reasons why we read books in the first place?

• Non-Fiction Person Loved This Novel!

  I don't ususally read non-fiction, and have never been into the Alternate History craze. I bought this as a Stephen Fry fan, and perhaps a bit because I was a history major in college. From page one, I could not put it down. The way Fry writes, discussing how one feels when getting up in the morning, writing a thesis, and comparing us history students to pretentious literature students for example, was hilarious and dead-on. Mike Young is anxious to have his PhD thesis read and earn his doctorate, while living in a strained relationship with a logical but herbal tea drinking scientist. He literally bumps into a stranger with a guilty secret, and a story unravels, involving an attempt to make sure Hitler never gained power without actually going back and killing him. Fry writes this book from several different views, a past time, thesis, young Hitler in the trenches, screenplay, etc. I love his writing style, one rarely makes me laugh out loud, but as I said, his takes on life's little crises are on the mark. The ending is good too, perhaps something has changed after all. There is a side story that some might not like, but it's so near the end you won't want to stop reading. If you were like me and have never ventured into time travel stories, and have a good sense of humor, and a love of things British, buy this book! You'll be calling all those "Eds" at work "Double Eddie" in no time.

• Playing God

  Imagine Cambridge. Imagine a history student, Mike Young, writing his thesis about Adolf Hitler - how it began - not the political career, his life. Imagine a physics professor, Zuckermann, jewish by name and upbringing but in truth the guilt-ridden son of Nazi criminal... Lots of potential there, right? Fry uses that potential brilliantly and writes an entertaining, funny book about "what if". What if the intimate knowledge of a historian and the brilliant invention of a time machine by a determined physicist result in preventing Adolf Hitler from ever being born? Three possible outcomes: Everything is better. Everything is much the same. Everything is worse. Well, the first two would make a boring story, wouldn't they? So we learn, that Adolf Hitler wasn't born on a lonely island, isolated without any contact to any other person... suprise! We learn that however grotesque his existence might be perceived today, he was more than "the Führer" - he interacted... and his sole existence might have prevented a greater evil than the havoc he wreaked himself... This is a great read, without the "raised finger" of "I told you so".... you could replace Hitler with any "prominent historical figure" and create the same story - it's not only one person that's making history, it's very much as well the circumstances (here the econimcal crisis in Europe and the lack of a strong leader in Germany uniting the split parties) that enable the rise and fall of ideas and people - and it's very much their ability to disguise true feelings / ideas, their so-called diplomatic abilities, that will determine the amount of evil they might produce (in secret or not so secretly). There are a few "random" additional threads in the story that might have a feel of sidetracking from the main topic - like Mike entertaining the idea, that he might actually be gay. Sort of pointless, I first thought, but basically just one thing in the new world Mike and Zuckermann created, that's worse than before - and that's been punishible in the Third Reich. Homosexuality is illegal - and one of the first things Mike finds out waking up in "his" new world and meeting friends of "his" old world who were openly gay... I know it bothered previous reviewers, but it didn't bother me, because these small sidetracks of the story did have a meaning, if small, and actually are not overly distracting.

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