Historians and inquisitive laymen alike love to ponder the dramatic what-ifs of history. In these never-before-published essays, some of the keenest minds of our time ask the big, tantalizing questions: Where might we be if history had not unfolded the way it did? Why, how, and when was our fortune made real? The answers are surprising, sometimes frightening, and always entertaining. This provocative collection of essays features today's foremost historians speculating on these what-ifs, providing a fascinating new perspective on history's most pivotal events.

The essays include:

* The Repulse of the English Fireships: The Spanish Armada Triumphs by Geoffrey Parker
* Unlikely Victory: Thirteen Ways the Americans Could Have Lost the Revolution by Thomas Fleming
* What the Fog Wrought: The Revolution's Dunkirk by David McCullough
* Ruler of the World: Napoleon's Missed Opportunities by Alistair Horne
* If the Lost Order Hadn't Been Lost: Robert E. Lee Humbles the Union by James M. McPherson
* A Confederate Cannae and Other Scenarios: How the Civil War Might Have Turned Out Differently by Stephen W. Sears