The Sloppiest Alternate Histories Out There...

Lycaon pictus

Donor
Commissar From Kiev said:
I just want to mention a novel by Harry Turtledove. I read it years ago and I can't remember the title, but the plot stuck for its ridiculousness.
Basically, Communism wins the Cold War. The main characters, living in Commie Milan, oppose communist tyranny by . . . playing capitalist-themed board games brought there by timeline-hopping people.
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The Gladiator, and yeah, it made no sense. Given that capitalism works better than communism (the entire premise of the book) all the Western world had to do was not get physically destroyed in war and it would run rings around the Soviet bloc in economic competition. Losing Vietnam four years early and having Soviet missiles in Cuba would do nothing to change this. And even if the U.S. went commie, why would a communist United States be any more inclined to take orders from Moscow than a communist China? It was like the book had been written by a Tea Partier. Very disappointing.
 
Petike

Petike

Lycaon pictus said:
The Gladiator, and yeah, it made no sense. Given that capitalism works better than communism (the entire premise of the book) all the Western world had to do was not get physically destroyed in war and it would run rings around the Soviet bloc in economic competition. Losing Vietnam four years early and having Soviet missiles in Cuba would do nothing to change this. And even if the U.S. went commie, why would a communist United States be any more inclined to take orders from Moscow than a communist China? It was like the book had been written by a Tea Partier. Very disappointing.
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But you can't fault it for not being original: Futuristic communist Milan.
 

Nick Griffalco

Banned
Lycaon pictus said:
The Gladiator, and yeah, it made no sense. Given that capitalism works better than communism (the entire premise of the book) all the Western world had to do was not get physically destroyed in war and it would run rings around the Soviet bloc in economic competition. Losing Vietnam four years early and having Soviet missiles in Cuba would do nothing to change this. And even if the U.S. went commie, why would a communist United States be any more inclined to take orders from Moscow than a communist China? It was like the book had been written by a Tea Partier. Very disappointing.
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Well, it did win the libertarian Prometheus Award. Of course, since it's told from the point of view of two character native to that world it's debatable how much of that was true and how much was just propaganda
 

Not Henry G.

Lycaon pictus said:
The Gladiator, and yeah, it made no sense. Given that capitalism works better than communism (the entire premise of the book) all the Western world had to do was not get physically destroyed in war and it would run rings around the Soviet bloc in economic competition. Losing Vietnam four years early and having Soviet missiles in Cuba would do nothing to change this. And even if the U.S. went commie, why would a communist United States be any more inclined to take orders from Moscow than a communist China? It was like the book had been written by a Tea Partier. Very disappointing.
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Well, it's a YA. You're almost required to have a shitty dystopia backstory to publish one of those
 
Commissar From Kiev

Commissar From Kiev

Lycaon pictus said:
The Gladiator, and yeah, it made no sense. Given that capitalism works better than communism (the entire premise of the book) all the Western world had to do was not get physically destroyed in war and it would run rings around the Soviet bloc in economic competition. Losing Vietnam four years early and having Soviet missiles in Cuba would do nothing to change this. And even if the U.S. went commie, why would a communist United States be any more inclined to take orders from Moscow than a communist China? It was like the book had been written by a Tea Partier. Very disappointing.
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Yeah, and if communists took over America, they'd go about things differently from the Soviets. For instance, how do you eliminate the Second Amendment without causing mass revolt?

Also, Turtledove's whole concept of Josef Stalin taking over America is stupid. I mean, there's a definite trend in conservative America's voting habits towards voting for WASP candidates.
Even if the Americans were communist, I hardly think they'd let a first-generation immigrant take power. I mean, look at how conservative America panicked when Kennedy came into office. ‘Ah! It's an Irish Catholic! We're doomed!’
 

HIM Dogson

fjihr said:
The author just committed butterfly genocide on the part about Earth. But as for the parts that plagiarize Star Wars and happen in space... :eek:
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There's also the pictures he uses for some of the monarchs. He used a still from that movie Mongol to show the Mongol Khan, for example. Honestly it's so bad it's good.
 

Napoleon IV

fjihr said:
The author just committed butterfly genocide on the part about Earth. But as for the parts that plagiarize Star Wars and happen in space... :eek:
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Hold on, Star Wars? Seriously, an alternate history that suddenly features Star Wars? That's some Plan 9 From Outer Space quality writing.
 

HIM Dogson

MrGreyOwl said:
Not a feminist wank, just someone who confuse feminism with female dominance.

Anyway, I've never seen anything realistic coming from nationstates.net, it's just a "make your fantasy country" website.
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Eh, some of them could have happened, like one country is just a Hapsburg Germany, which is realistic I guess. THIS, on the other hand...
 
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