1

by
3.59 avg rating — 234,221 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
4.39 avg rating — 592,054 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
4.02 avg rating — 55,940 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
3.88 avg rating — 137,014 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
4.07 avg rating — 111,388 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
3.87 avg rating — 254,163 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
3.96 avg rating — 9,649 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
4.05 avg rating — 13,543 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
3.76 avg rating — 15,460 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
3.72 avg rating — 80,130 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
3.78 avg rating — 107,865 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
3.82 avg rating — 68,906 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
3.85 avg rating — 845,463 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
4.23 avg rating — 116,709 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
4.02 avg rating — 8,493 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
4.20 avg rating — 5,400,183 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
4.03 avg rating — 64,545 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
3.88 avg rating — 37,246 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
3.92 avg rating — 94,610 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
3.47 avg rating — 22,909 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
3.91 avg rating — 5,589 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
3.97 avg rating — 15,665 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
4.19 avg rating — 212,125 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
3.90 avg rating — 113,926 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
4.35 avg rating — 825,345 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
3.83 avg rating — 7,239 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
3.90 avg rating — 55,442 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
3.92 avg rating — 3,224 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
3.75 avg rating — 8,880 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
30

by
4.37 avg rating — 63 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
3.71 avg rating — 2,904 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
3.92 avg rating — 17,783 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
3.85 avg rating — 2,875 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
3.71 avg rating — 2,216 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
3.93 avg rating — 46,481 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
3.95 avg rating — 59,601 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
4.05 avg rating — 6,788 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
4.35 avg rating — 643,703 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
3.76 avg rating — 14,968 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
3.81 avg rating — 5,657 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
4.03 avg rating — 4,544 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
3.91 avg rating — 43,279 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
3.66 avg rating — 2,786 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
3.92 avg rating — 4,153 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
4.15 avg rating — 2,397,084 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.02 avg rating — 564,905 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
3.79 avg rating — 1,240 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
4.17 avg rating — 61,366 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
4.05 avg rating — 5,128 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
4.35 avg rating — 830,525 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
3.99 avg rating — 33,600 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
3.98 avg rating — 916 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
3.95 avg rating — 338,392 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
4.06 avg rating — 442,571 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
4.17 avg rating — 41,343 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
4.12 avg rating — 2,481 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
3.87 avg rating — 14,096 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
3.59 avg rating — 1,364 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
3.84 avg rating — 5,137 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
3.92 avg rating — 12,188 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61

by
3.85 avg rating — 3,683 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
3.60 avg rating — 1,040 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
3.89 avg rating — 17,701 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
3.94 avg rating — 376 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
3.95 avg rating — 37,720 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
66

by
4.15 avg rating — 110 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
67

by
4.22 avg rating — 33,913 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
68

by
3.76 avg rating — 1,123 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
68

by
4.08 avg rating — 28,592 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
70

by
3.70 avg rating — 1,132 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
3.97 avg rating — 7,617 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
72

by
4.03 avg rating — 1,611,646 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
3.86 avg rating — 1,890 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
3.90 avg rating — 3,267 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
75

by
3.72 avg rating — 138,711 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
4.42 avg rating — 26 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
3.98 avg rating — 3,305 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
78

by
4.20 avg rating — 629,955 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
3.92 avg rating — 2,892 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
80

by
3.87 avg rating — 1,439 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
81

by
4.19 avg rating — 128 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
82

by
3.86 avg rating — 88,386 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
3.39 avg rating — 303 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
4.05 avg rating — 21 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
3.44 avg rating — 618 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
86

by
3.84 avg rating — 4,641 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
87

by
3.95 avg rating — 3,468 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
4.07 avg rating — 3,905 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
3.91 avg rating — 5,758 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
90

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 58 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
3.94 avg rating — 69 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
92

by
3.38 avg rating — 4,201 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
93

by
3.75 avg rating — 3,479 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
3.89 avg rating — 2,782 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
95

by
3.96 avg rating — 7,729 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
3.91 avg rating — 27,837 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
97

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3,725 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
97

by
3.54 avg rating — 1,715 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
99

by
3.70 avg rating — 3,600 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
100

by
4.15 avg rating — 138,513 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
768 books · 1,293 voters · list created July 16th, 2008 by Steven Harbin (votes) .
403 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Steven 4277 books
2492 friends
Jessica 10479 books
1461 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3386 books
851 friends
Alexandra 7808 books
413 friends
JG (Introverted Reader) 4380 books
438 friends
Rachael 1332 books
54 friends
Debbie is on Storygraph 6227 books
101 friends
Susan 1613 books
60 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-22 of 22 (22 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Jim (new)

Jim Harry Harrison had a terrific pb original in the late 70s(?) about the south getting machine guns. and there was Will Shetterly's Captain Confederacy comic book series. the letter cols had great speculations of a several nation n. america.
currently there is Rex Mundi.


message 2: by [deleted user] (new)

Hooray for alternate history! Does anybody know of any alternate history novels set in/around the Revolutionary War period? I can't be the only person that's written some. ;) I'd really love to read another author's "alternate" take on the era, but I haven't found any other titles yet.


message 3: by Gabriel (new)

Gabriel Cooper Try Harry Turtledove's Atlantis series. It starts with the age of colonization, but the east coast of North America was separated from the rest before the Europeans discovered it. The books are Opening Atlantis(discovery, colonization, and Alternate version of French-Indian War , The United States of Atlantis(Revolutionary War), and Liberating Atlantis(Civil War). Maybe not quite what your thinking of but in the same ballpark.


message 4: by [deleted user] (new)

That sounds like just my style, yes! Funny, other people already recommended two of Turtledove's other titles to me--maybe I should just read everything he's written, lol. Thank you!


message 5: by Tim (new)

Tim Koszyk The Two Georges, Aubrey.


message 6: by Tim (new)


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads You add books to the list a the top of the list, at the tab next to "all votes."


message 8: by Tim (new)

Tim Koszyk sorry. Thought it would place it automatically.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Not yet, anyway!


message 10: by Johan (new)

Johan Ljung Great list - I've found many good suggested future reads (as well as some old favorites) here. Thanks, Steven, for creating it! The reason I didn't vote for 1984 is that I don't think it really belongs here. Sure, one could argue that it has become alternate history "after the fact", but when it was written in 1948, it was a dystopian novel set in the (then) near future.


message 11: by Ron (new)

Ron Johan wrote: "Great list - I've found many good suggested future reads (as well as some old favorites) here. Thanks, Steven, for creating it! The reason I didn't vote for 1984 is that I don't think i..."

According to that reasoning Margaret Atwood ought to be struck off as well, if I understand you correctly. Or would they still qualify because they haven't yet been proven wrong?

Personally the popularity of dystopian fiction bothers me a little; we've been headed to hell in a handbasket for centuries now & it seems to be taking far longer than we were promised/warned!


message 12: by Hayley (new)

Hayley Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis is a great read. What's not to like about a reimagining of the second world war where the Nazis had superpowered beings and the British had warlocks?


message 13: by Kelley (new)

Kelley Stoneking I agree with Johan and Ron; The Handmaid's Tale and 1984 are set in a dystopian future world. Likewise, so is On the Beach. Therefore, none of these really fit on this list.

Also, Pillars of the Earth is purely historical fiction and should be removed from the list.


message 14: by Vonia (new)

Vonia Another stupid list. Alternate History is very specialized. More than 3/4 of these are merely science fiction, apocalyptic, dystopian.


message 15: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Jan 17, 2017 01:03AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) The title of this Listopia says "Best Alternate History Novels and Stories", yet Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood, The Handmaid's Tale and 1984, which was written in 1949, are all set in the future....

Due to this, and as earlier comments agree with me, I've removed these titles from this list. I've also removed On the Beach for the same reason. There are separate lists for dystopian novels, by the way, should anyone be interested.


message 16: by Jeffrey (new)

Jeffrey Gao Timeline 191 and other Turtledove books definitely belong here.
The Draka franchise by S&M Stirling however, does not.


message 17: by Elspeth (new)

Elspeth I'm curious how The Stand fits in here? If it does, great, but I'm missing the connection.


message 18: by Jon. (new)

Jon. Bacigalupi's books (Ship Breaker, The Drowned Cities) are great, but they're definitely futuristic, not alternate history. Also not AH: All Our Wrong Todays, The Peripheral, The Last Days Of New Paris


message 19: by Andrea (new)

Andrea Perhaps there should be a definition of "alternate history" in the description?

I don't think Never Let Me Go belongs here. And the "What if" books are collections of essays by historians, not novels.


message 20: by Steve (new)

Steve LaForest I see I'm not the first one to quibble with which books are on a given list! On to my two cents worth (which now refers to an alternate reality where pennies were not disintegrated) - I don't really think the Red Mars, and the rest of the mars trilogy belong here. These books are first and foremost about the terraforming of mars. There is a war with earth, but that is in the future (unless I missed it, we can't even maintain a proper space station, let alone a lunar colony, let alone a mars colony).


message 21: by Mitchell (last edited Jul 20, 2024 11:14PM) (new)

Mitchell Friedman So if you write about an alternate past it could be alternate history, but if you write about the future it can not be alternate history? So if I write a book right now set in 2023 it could be alternate history but if I write a book right now set in 2025 it can't be? That kind of makes sense to me.


message 22: by Sally (new)

Sally 2 duplicates found and removed


back to top



Related News

The friends-to-lovers plot is a familiar trajectory, in fiction and in life. It’s a path to good times! And bad times. And, as many can attest,...

Anyone can add books to this list.