Archduke Franz Ferdinand lives - A World Without World War I

The “Great War” claimed nearly 40 million lives and set the stage for World War II,  the Holocaust, and the Cold War.  One hundred years later, historians  are beginning  to recognize how unnecessary it was. In Archduke Franz Ferdinand Lives!,  acclaimed political  psychologist Richard Ned Lebow examines the chain of events that led to war and what could reasonably have been done differently to avoid it. In this highly original and intellectually challenging book, he constructs plausible worlds, some better, some worse, that might have developed.

He illustrates them with “what-if” biographies of politicians,  scientists, religious leaders, artists, painters, and writers, sports figures, and celebrities, including  scenarios where: there is no Israel; neither John Kennedy  nor Barack Obama become president; Curt Flood, not Jackie Robinson, integrates baseball; Satchmo and many Black jazz musicians leave for Europe, where jazz blends with klezmer; nuclear research is internationalized  and all major countries sign a treaty outlawing the development of atomic weapons; Britain and Germany are entrapped in a Cold War that threatens to go nuclear; and much more.


Pub Date : 07/01/2014
ISBN : 978-1-137-27853-1
Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan
Review Posted Online : Oct. 28th, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue : Nov. 15th, 2013
Author : Richard Ned Lebow