# Books set in an alternate history timeline **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 22, 2020, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-set-in-an-alternate-history-timeline/918742 "2020-08-22T12:32:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-set-in-an-alternate-history-timeline/918742/21 "2020-08-24T00:02:45Z")
I’m surprised my favorite title in the genre hasn’t been mentioned yet: [The Yiddish Policemen’s Union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yiddish_Policemen%27s_Union) by Michael Chabon. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-set-in-an-alternate-history-timeline/918742/22 "2020-08-24T00:14:49Z")
I know taste is an individual thing, but I liked Resurrection Day. ---
**Author:** ![Boycott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boycott/32/6741_2.png) [@Boycott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boycott)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-set-in-an-alternate-history-timeline/918742/23 "2020-08-24T00:30:47Z")
Thanks a lot chaps. I’m going to have a look through all of these. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-set-in-an-alternate-history-timeline/918742/24 "2020-08-24T11:30:39Z")
Arguably, Jasper Fforde’s output qualifies as “alt-history”, although it’s much more tongue-in-cheek than most stories of this genre. His Thursday Next books (starting with “The Eyre Affair”) are definitely worth reading; the two “Nursery Crime” books in the series may be skippable if you’re not that into it but the first four-book arc is pretty good on its own, and there are a couple more after that. He’s done other weird alt-history stories, but he seems to have abandoned his “Shades of Grey” trilogy after one book (which I did enjoy, although it took a couple of readings to “get” it) and I found “Early Riser” less appealing. I haven’t read his new one “The Constant Rabbit” but it’s in the same broad weird alt-history genre. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-set-in-an-alternate-history-timeline/918742/25 "2020-09-10T06:38:14Z")
> [@GreaterZamboni](#): > > I cannot stand Turtledove. While his concepts are great, his writing is turgid to say the least. It is unreadable to say the most. His older books are better, I think he started off with much stronger editing. And his short stories are especially good, they really pack a punch and there isn’t enough length to get bogged down in. I agree that his newer stuff and especially longer serieses tend to turn into a big quagmire of useless side plots, reintroduction of characters, and outright repitition. I gave up on him during the Great War series when I saw a title from the series in a bookstore that I didn’t recognize, turned to the middle of the book to see whether I recognized this book or not, and couldn’t tell if I had read it before or not. I would recommend his short story collections to people looking for alt-hist, they’re IMO much stronger than the long slog through novels. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-set-in-an-alternate-history-timeline/918742.md?page=1)