Nazism in Recent Alternate Histories

Abstract

Recent alternate histories of Nazism reveal a tendency to universalize the significance of the Third Reich in order to comment on contemporary events. This agenda is subtle in some works and more explicit
in others, but it is never far from the surface. Given that all works of alternate history reflect the circumstances in which they are written - with writers’ views of the present influencing whether they envision the alternate past as better or worse than the real past - it is no surprise that the works of
the last decade reflect the complex realities of the post-9/11 world. The rise of Al Qaeda, the US invasion of Iraq, the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the threat of a nuclear Iran have directly influenced the portrayal of the Nazi past in alternate history.