Stranger Than We Can Imagine: An Alternative History of the 20th Century PDF
Preview Stranger Than We Can Imagine: An Alternative History of the 20th Century
By the same author Non-fiction The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band Who Burned a Million Pounds I Have America Surrounded: The Life of Timothy Leary Our Pet Queen: A New Perspective on Monarchy Fiction The Brandy of the Damned The First Church on the Moon Copyright © 2015 by John Higgs Signal Books is an imprint of McClelland & Stewart, a division of Random House of Canada Limited, a Penguin Random House Company. All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the publisher – or, in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency – is an infringement of the copyright law. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Higgs, John, author Stranger than we can imagine : an alternative history of the 20th century / John Higgs. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-7710-3847-1 (bound).–ISBN 978-0-77103848-8 (html) 1. History, Modern–20th century. 2. Twentieth century. I. Title. II. Title: Twentieth century. D421.H53 2015 909.82 C2014-907868-4 C2014-907869-2 First published in Great Britain in 2015 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Published simultaneously in the United States of America by Counterpoint Press. Jacket design by Andrew Roberts Jacket images: (astronaut on moon) © Steven Taylor / Getty Images; (television) © Wisconsinart / Dreamstime.com McClelland & Stewart, a division of Random House of Canada Limited a Penguin Random House Company www.penguinrandomhouse.ca v3.1 v3.1 For Lia, the twentieth century’s post-credits twist, and for Isaac, the pre-game cutscene of the twenty-first century. All love, Dad x CONTENTS Cover Other Books by This Author Title Page Copyright Dedication Epigraph Introduction 1 RELATIVITY Deleting the omphalos 2 MODERNISM The shock of the new 3 WAR Hoist that rag 4 INDIVIDUALISM Do what thou wilt 5 ID Under the paving stones, the beach 6 UNCERTAINTY The cat is both alive and dead 7 SCIENCE FICTION A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away 8 NIHILISM I stick my neck out for nobody 9 SPACE We came in peace for all mankind 10 SEX Nineteen sixty-three (which was rather late for me) 11 TEENAGERS Wop-bom-a-loo-mop-a-lomp-bom-bom 12 CHAOS A butterfly flaps its wings in Tokyo 13 GROWTH Today’s investor does not profit from yesterday’s growth 14 POSTMODERNISM I happen to have Mr McLuhan right here 15 NETWORK A planet of individuals Notes and Sources Bibliography Acknowledgements ‘We needed to do what we wanted to do’ Keith Richards Murdering Airplane by Max Ernst, 1920 (Bridgeman/© ADAGP Paris & DACS London 2015) INTRODUCTION
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