https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown’s_Body

I guess I respect some troops a bit

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16 points
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nothing wrong with feeling wistful for a future that never was

and i agree the U.S. was significantly less cringe for like half a decade

i could almost tack on the brief U.S.-Soviet alliance and FDR’s tight relationship with Stalin and the future that also never was

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That is the other particular moment I think of too, had FDR lived a little longer, taken Wallace as his VP again. The labor movement was there and even a single administrations worth of goodwill towards the USSR could have produced a better reality. This runs parallel to Lincoln taking Butler as his VP (or I should say, Butler not refusing it) instead of the worst possible option in Johnson.

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9 points

i wonder if any decent alt history books have been written about either of these two hinge points?

seems like most alt-history is written by shitlibs and chuds

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Christman had a bonus episodes about Butler and Wallace on Hell of Presidents I’m pretty sure, and they go into it on Hinge Points as well. So very Chapo-y and I’d be interested in other, more typically “scholarly” perspectives too.

I don’t know if the serious types ever delve into alt-history, which would make sense if they didn’t, it’s all speculation and quickly becomes a wish fulfillment fantasy, at least when I do it in my musings. I guess actually it’s really sad I find it easier to imagine different pasts, and their consequent lost futures, than seeing much hope in this current world. Still mostly not a doomer though!

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i would say the cold war happens no matter what, it could have been delayed by a bit in the best case. Korean war being averted would have been a hugely different world though.

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