The Nominative Minefield
By Tom Anderson One of the more common reader comments I get on my Look to the West series of alternate history books is ‘How do you come...
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Aug 31, 202012 min read
Chains of Consequences: Dirty QWERTY
By Tom Anderson It will be of no surprise to you if I said I am writing this article on a keyboard whose first row of letters spells out...
Aug 17, 202011 min read
Chains of Consequences: The Problem of Incommensurable Slang
By Tom Anderson In a previous article, I discussed how the cartoon characters Tom and Jerry ultimately got their name from an 1821 novel...
Aug 3, 202011 min read
Chains of Consequences: Die Hard With a Reference
By Tom Anderson The release of Die Hard in July 1988 was a seminal moment for not only the American film industry, but for world culture...
Jul 20, 202014 min read
Chains of Consequences: The Obscure Presidential Assassinations, pt 2 – William McKinley
By Tom Anderson In my previous two articles, I discussed the fact that although America has had ‘only’ four presidents assassinated in...
Jul 6, 202014 min read
Chains of Consequences: The Obscure Presidential Assassinations – James A. Garfield
By Tom Anderson In my last article, I discussed the important question that any American presidential nominee faces in the choice of a...
Jun 22, 202012 min read
Chains of Consequences: the Perils of Choosing a Veep
By Tom Anderson At the time of this article’s writing, amid a pandemic-hit campaign season like no other, former Vice-President and U.S....
Jun 8, 202010 min read
Chains of Consequences: A Bear of Very Big Influence
By Tom Anderson ’Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now...ready to be introduced to you. Winnie-the-Pooh. When I first heard his...
May 11, 20206 min read
Chains of Consequences: The Little Matter of VE Day
By Tom Anderson On May 8th 2020, despite the circumstances of the coronavirus lockdown, the United Kingdom—like a number of other nations...
Apr 27, 20209 min read
Chains of Consequences: How 17th Century Candles Ruined American Television
By Tom Anderson When a British traveller visits the United States for the first time, in my experience there is an almost comically...
Apr 20, 20208 min read
Chains of Consequences: By Any Other Name
By Tom Anderson When we think about the major popcultural phenomena that have shaped our world and spawned countless imitators—or...
Apr 12, 202013 min read
Chains of Consequences: The Importance of Dating Easter
By Tom Anderson In the UK, and many other countries, anyone who has ever had to design timetables and schedules for major educational...
Apr 6, 202011 min read
Comics of Alternate Earths: The Very Unauthorised Adaptations of Fleetway Comics
By Tom Anderson Mention ‘comics’ and, today, your first thought is quite likely to be of larger-than-life American superhero comic books....
Mar 30, 20209 min read
How the Terrible Gas Warfare of World War One Saved Millions of Lives from Cancer
By Tom Anderson Ever since the power of science and technology to change the world was widely recognised, people have grappled with the...
Mar 23, 202015 min read
Naval Gazing: The Empire Strikes Back
By Tom Anderson In the roughly 45 years of the Cold War, the great naval buildup by the United States and her allies, and the more modest...
Mar 16, 20207 min read
Chains of Consequences: Pinballs and Shopping Malls - The Strangely Prophetic History of Pachinko
By Tom Anderson The game of Pachinko is almost synonymous with modern Japan. Popular in part because it represents a loophole in...
Mar 9, 202012 min read
Naval Gazing 13: The Cold War's Hot Spots
By Tom Anderson In the previous article, I noted that while there were a number of proxy conflicts between East and West during the Cold...
Mar 2, 20209 min read
Chains of Consequence: Chicago 1893, Fountain of Modernity
By Tom Anderson In these ‘Chains of Consequences’ articles, I have generally explored a single strand of consequence from a happenstance...
Feb 24, 20208 min read
Chains of Consequences: Musical Windows on the Past
By Tom Anderson Song lyrics and band names reveal clues about the past. This should be obvious, on the face of it. Naturally bands take...
Feb 17, 20208 min read
Chains of Consequences: How British Wartime Evacuation Created Top Gear
By Tom Anderson As the Second World War broke out in September 1939, the British government knew that it would become necessary to...
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