No edit summary |
No edit summary Tag: Source edit |
||
| (19 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| − | {{Infobox book|release_date = September 18, 2018|publisher = Tor|image = ThroughDarkestEurope.jpeg|ImageSize = 150px|genre = [[Alternate history]]}}'''''Through Darkest Europe''''' is |
+ | {{Infobox book|author=[[Harry Turtledove]]|release_date = September 18, 2018|language = [[English language|English]]|cover artist=|publisher = [[Tor]]|image = ThroughDarkestEurope.jpeg|ImageSize = 150px|genre = [[Alternate history]]}}'''''Through Darkest Europe''''' is an [[alternate history]] novel by [[Harry Turtledove]], ([[Tor]], September 18, 2018). It was originally announced under the working title of ''God Wills It!''. The novel is set in the present in a world where [[Christianity (Through Darkest Europe)|Christian]] [[Europe (Through Darkest Europe)|Europe]] remained a backwater of religious fanaticism, but the [[Islam (Through Darkest Europe)|Muslim]] world of the [[Middle East]] and [[North Africa]] became the progressive and developed "First World". |
| + | The first stated [[Point of Divergence]] is that [[Al-Ghazali (Through Darkest Europe)|Al-Ghazali]], a great Islamic philosopher who flourished around 1100, adopted a pro-science worldview, rather than his allegedly anti-science stance of [[OTL]]. The second stated POD is that the 13th century Italian philosopher [[Thomas Aquinas (Through Darkest Europe)|Thomas Aquinas]], a pro-science man in OTL, took the opposite "reversal" and caused the Christian world to become intellectually stagnant. |
||
| − | {{Unpublished}} |
||
| + | The bulk of the novel is set in the [[Grand Duchy of Italy]], where two special investigators from the [[Republican Sultanate of the Maghrib]] have been summoned to help root out and suppress the [[Aquinist]] terrorist branch, who seek to return Europe to a medieval way of thinking and remove all outside influence. Maghribi agent [[Khalid al-Zarzisi]] is the novel's sole POV. |
||
| − | ==Literary comment== |
||
| − | This is not the first Turtledove world where [[Islam]] outpaced [[Christianity]] in [[Europe]]. In "[[Islands in the Sea]]", the [[point of divergence]] is an Islamic military thrust in 717. As the entire story takes place in 769, the long term effects remain only broadly implied. In ''[[In High Places]]'', the break-point is an upsurge in the [[Great Black Deaths]] in 1348. As in ''Through Darkest Europe, In High Places'' sees a 21st century where Islam straddles Christendom, and both novels contain significant posthumous references to the philosophies of [[Al-Ghazzali]] and [[Thomas Aquinas]]. However, ''In High Places'' sees civilization held back to a medieval level, while the Islamic world of ''Through Darkest Europe'' is thoroughly modern by the standards of [[OTL]]. |
||
| + | ==Similar Turtledove works== |
||
| − | A vaguely similar theme of [[Middle East]]ern geopolitical reversal is found in "[[Occupation Duty]]", where the OTL [[Palestinian]] land is the nation of [[Philistinia]] which broadly resembles OTL [[Israel]], and the land of OTL Israel is held by the [[Moabites]], who serve as a stand-in for the OTL Palestinians. However, a crucial effect of the POD is that all the Abrahamic religions were nipped in the bud, and the modern world remains dominated by varied strains of polytheism. |
||
| + | Turtledove has also had Christian Europe fall behind Islamic civilization in "[[Islands in the Sea]]" and ''[[In High Places]]'', all of which have very different PODs. |
||
| + | |||
| + | "[[Occupation Duty]]" sees the birth of all modern Abrahamic religions nipped in the bud, with various strains of polytheism dominating the modern world. The story focuses on geographic analogs of [[Israel]] and [[Palestine]], whose OTL positions are similarly "reversed." |
||
| + | |||
| + | {{Through Darkest Europe}} |
||
| + | [[Category:Through Darkest Europe|*]] |
||
[[Category:2018 Works]] |
[[Category:2018 Works]] |
||
[[Category:Alternate History]] |
[[Category:Alternate History]] |
||
| ⚫ | |||
[[Category:Works Set in Italy]] |
[[Category:Works Set in Italy]] |
||
[[Category:Works Set in the Present]] |
[[Category:Works Set in the Present]] |
||
| − | [[Category:Works Set in the |
+ | [[Category:Works Set in the 2010s]] |
| ⚫ | |||
Revision as of 05:57, 11 July 2021
| Through Darkest Europe | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Author | Harry Turtledove |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Alternate history |
| Publisher | Tor |
| Publication date | September 18, 2018 |
Through Darkest Europe is an alternate history novel by Harry Turtledove, (Tor, September 18, 2018). It was originally announced under the working title of God Wills It!. The novel is set in the present in a world where Christian Europe remained a backwater of religious fanaticism, but the Muslim world of the Middle East and North Africa became the progressive and developed "First World".
The first stated Point of Divergence is that Al-Ghazali, a great Islamic philosopher who flourished around 1100, adopted a pro-science worldview, rather than his allegedly anti-science stance of OTL. The second stated POD is that the 13th century Italian philosopher Thomas Aquinas, a pro-science man in OTL, took the opposite "reversal" and caused the Christian world to become intellectually stagnant.
The bulk of the novel is set in the Grand Duchy of Italy, where two special investigators from the Republican Sultanate of the Maghrib have been summoned to help root out and suppress the Aquinist terrorist branch, who seek to return Europe to a medieval way of thinking and remove all outside influence. Maghribi agent Khalid al-Zarzisi is the novel's sole POV.
Similar Turtledove works
Turtledove has also had Christian Europe fall behind Islamic civilization in "Islands in the Sea" and In High Places, all of which have very different PODs.
"Occupation Duty" sees the birth of all modern Abrahamic religions nipped in the bud, with various strains of polytheism dominating the modern world. The story focuses on geographic analogs of Israel and Palestine, whose OTL positions are similarly "reversed."
| ||||||||||