overlong and over-boring - the description applies to almost all the stories*, and it definitely applies to the anthology as a whole, which I consider a failure. I am a history buff and also a scifi fan, so I expected and wanted to love this book. But I did not.
Most stories are not badly written, on the contrary; unfortunately, they are utterly uninteresting.

*the only exception being Chalker's ”Dance Band on the Titanic”, but even that is not a 5/5 because of the lame ending. ( )

Contains the Original Novella “Bring the Jubilee”

Alternate history buffs might enjoy this volume for a few reasons, not the least of which being the inclusion of Ward Moore’s original novella version of Bring the Jubilee that appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (1952) prior to the novel version (1953). It’s notable for being one of the earlier alternate history novels and is national and international in its scope. That is somewhat the opposite of the other shorter selections in this collection, many of which are at best marginally alternate history fiction.

Generally, though, you’ll find good, thoughtful writing here, and some very intriguing stories. It would take too much space to comment on all, but here are a few many may find intriguing:

“The Winterberry,” by Nicolas A. DiChario. What if JFK had through some miracle survived the 1963 assassination? DiChario’s take on this is not what you might expect, and really tender when you sit back and contemplate it.

“The Undiscovered,” by William Sanders. Sanders wonders aloud about what would have become of Bill Shakespeare if he had been banished to the New World and captured by native tribes. This story is at once arresting for its simple style, fascinating for its alternate cultural perspective, and poignant because Bill can’t seem to see beyond his own desire.

“The Death of Captain Future,” by Allen Steele. Those of a certain age who remember pulpy science fiction and the cheaply made TV shows Captain Video and His Video Rangers and Tom Corbett, Space Cadet will find Steele’s story tailor-made for them. Here, a delusional captain of a space scow has collected, read, and digested all the adventures of his hero Captain Future and his Futuremen. In his mind he is Captain Future, and claims all the prerogatives of such a hero, to the consternation of his newest crew member. When a distress signal comes in, opportunity presents itself, and reader hope gets dashed.

“Moon of Ice,” by Brad Linaweaver. In his “what if the Nazis won,” Linaweaver visits Goebbels and extracts a revenge of sorts on his. It’s the mid 1960s, the world’s pretty much divided between the U.S. and the Nazis, Hitler’s on his deathbed, and Goebbels reminisces. He’s equally troubled by his daughter Hilda (who in fact was his daddy’s little girl, murdered by him in 1945) who is too much of a freethinker, and his soon-to-be SS son. One day, shortly before his departure for Burgundy, a country made for and by the SS, to see his son graduated into the SS ranks, Hilda comes to her father with two startling revelations, one being his own pending assassination. Lots of color and terrific moments in this story. For instance, how often does Hanns Hörbiger’s discredited Welteislehre (World Ice Theory) get trotted out? Best part though is Goebbels subjected to the extreme conclusion of his virulent racial hatred.

You’ll find this a bit of an uneven but overall enjoyable collection.
( )

Contains the Original Novella “Bring the Jubilee”

Alternate history buffs might enjoy this volume for a few reasons, not the least of which being the inclusion of Ward Moore’s original novella version of Bring the Jubilee that appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (1952) prior to the novel version (1953). It’s notable for being one of the earlier alternate history novels and is national and international in its scope. That is somewhat the opposite of the other shorter selections in this collection, many of which are at best marginally alternate history fiction.

Generally, though, you’ll find good, thoughtful writing here, and some very intriguing stories. It would take too much space to comment on all, but here are a few many may find intriguing:

“The Winterberry,” by Nicolas A. DiChario. What if JFK had through some miracle survived the 1963 assassination? DiChario’s take on this is not what you might expect, and really tender when you sit back and contemplate it.

“The Undiscovered,” by William Sanders. Sanders wonders aloud about what would have become of Bill Shakespeare if he had been banished to the New World and captured by native tribes. This story is at once arresting for its simple style, fascinating for its alternate cultural perspective, and poignant because Bill can’t seem to see beyond his own desire.

“The Death of Captain Future,” by Allen Steele. Those of a certain age who remember pulpy science fiction and the cheaply made TV shows Captain Video and His Video Rangers and Tom Corbett, Space Cadet will find Steele’s story tailor-made for them. Here, a delusional captain of a space scow has collected, read, and digested all the adventures of his hero Captain Future and his Futuremen. In his mind he is Captain Future, and claims all the prerogatives of such a hero, to the consternation of his newest crew member. When a distress signal comes in, opportunity presents itself, and reader hope gets dashed.

“Moon of Ice,” by Brad Linaweaver. In his “what if the Nazis won,” Linaweaver visits Goebbels and extracts a revenge of sorts on his. It’s the mid 1960s, the world’s pretty much divided between the U.S. and the Nazis, Hitler’s on his deathbed, and Goebbels reminisces. He’s equally troubled by his daughter Hilda (who in fact was his daddy’s little girl, murdered by him in 1945) who is too much of a freethinker, and his soon-to-be SS son. One day, shortly before his departure for Burgundy, a country made for and by the SS, to see his son graduated into the SS ranks, Hilda comes to her father with two startling revelations, one being his own pending assassination. Lots of color and terrific moments in this story. For instance, how often does Hanns Hörbiger’s discredited Welteislehre (World Ice Theory) get trotted out? Best part though is Goebbels subjected to the extreme conclusion of his virulent racial hatred.

You’ll find this a bit of an uneven but overall enjoyable collection.
( )

The Best Alternate History Stories of the 20th Century is a nice collection of stories, many by authors which were new to me. There is even one novella which postulates the South winning the War Between the States. I very much enjoyed reading these stories and thought that this volume would be a good introduction to the Alternate History subgenre.

Although this is titled 'The Best Alternate History Stories of the 20th Century' I have to say that some of these stories barely qualified, particularly the 'The Death of Captain Future' and everyone's mileage varies as to 'best'.

The best one of the bunch is (IMO) Ward Moore's 'Bring the Jubilee', which is, on the face of it, one of that plethora of AHs that deal with a Southern Victory in the American Civil War but with it's own particular twist on the theme. Both Brad Linaweaver's 'Moon of Ice' and Greg Bear's 'Through road No Whither' take a look at the other perennial AltHist favourite; Nazi Germany winning WW2, though both stories have very different takes on the theme. A rather interesting tale was Harry Turtledove's 'Islands in the Sea', which took a look at what might have happened had Islam taken Constantinople several hundred years before it did in our time line one wonders how well this sort of story would go downthese days ( )