Making History

By Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry tackles alternate history, asking: What if Hitler had never been born?
 
Michael Young is a graduate student at Cambridge who is completing his dissertation on the early life of Adolf Hitler. Leo Zuckerman is an aging German physicist and Holocaust survivor. Together they idealistically embark on an experiment to change the course of history. And with their success is launched a brave new world that is in some ways better than ours—but in most ways even worse. Fry’s sci-fi-tinged experiment in history makes for an ambitious and deeply affecting novel.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Dec 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9781616955267

Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry is one of Britain's national treasures and his television appearances include 'A Bit Of Fry and Laurie', 'Jeeves and Wooster', 'Blackadder', 'QI' and 'Kingdom'. His film roles include 'Peter's Friends' and 'Wilde'; and in the realm of television, the Emmy-award-winning 'The Secret Life of a Manic Depressive'. As a writer, he best known for his novel The Liar as well as his acclaimed autobiography Moab Is My Washpot, and his is the famous voice of the Harry Potter audio books.

Reviews for Making History

[aaronp_36 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A cracking read. Really recommended.

[heymanp-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Witty, insightful, clever, and a riveting read. Must-read!

[miaculpa-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Stephen Fry can be very funny but not in this book. "Making History" is an odd book; it swaps between novel and screenplay and tries to argue that if the Germans had won WWII then the US would be an authoritarian state. A bit of a disappointment, really.

[solosair · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A hard slog to read because I don't like the writing style.

[john257hopper · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very humorously written story about the very darkest of events, the attempt by history student Michael Young and scientist Professor Leo Zuckermann, to change history by ensuring that Hitler was never born. Of course, things go wrong and in the alternate world an equally ghastly turn of events has taken place, surrounding an alternative and more rational and successful Nazi Leader, Gloder. It all comes right in the end and history is set back on its proper course. The central characters are believable and likeable. My only criticism would be that it does drag a little in places and perhaps takes too long to get really started. Also, it wasn't clear why some sections were written in film script rather than normal prose. A good read overall, though.

[polarbear123_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Pacy and witty with the usual word smithery and magical turns of phrases you would expect from Fry. The only issue I have with this enjoyable story is that at times it gets overly sentimental. You'll know the bits I am talking about.

[balthazar0lawson · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I'm in mixed minds about this book, mainly because it's a mixed up book. Parts of it are written like a novel and parts like the script for a movie. There was also the jumping backwards and forwards in alternating chapters, a writing style I'm not particularly happy with. It was a slow start but it pick up towards the end and become a more interesting.Overall it was only a so-so book.

[bunwat_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Hmmm well this was clever, and I love Stephen Fry's authorial voice, but somehow it ended up making me sad. Then again I wasn't in the best mood to start with so it may be I would have been more amused if I'd been in a better mood to begin with.

MINOR SPOILERS - Nothing you wouldn't get from reading the blurb.

I liked the premise quite a lot, that preventing the birth of Hitler might not produce a better world after all. Because yeah, Hitler was an evil man but he didn't invent and prosecute WWII all by himself.

But somehow the working out of the premise was a little bit flawed. There was a lot of time spent on the lead up to preventing the birth of Hitler. But once the protagonist finds himself in this new world where Hitler was never born, he just looks up some stuff in the library and says oh I don't like this, and races to get home again.

Which all falls together pretty fast - given that he's stranded in a strange world he sure figures out how to turn it around without much difficulty. It felt a bit uneven. Still, I liked it enough I'll probably read something else by Fry at some point.

[isabelx_21 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A science-fiction, alternate history, comedy novel. I loved Pup, who was a very realistic student (I thought it was very funny how he got that nickname). The way history was changed by what he and Leo did was believable but there were places where the story dragged and I was waiting impatiently for something to happen. So it was good, but not as good as Fry's "The Liar".

[thecriticaltimes · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

We all know what happens when characters in a novel mess with history, but try they must, especially when they have a chance to prevent Hitler from being born, and so they shall. This is what the protagonists of Making History think and who can argue with such an obvious course of action. Stephen Fry in his third novel comes up with a remarkable narrative construction, which is clever, endearing, smart, intelligent, amazing, and unfortunately grossly under appreciated. Us readers don't remember a novel for its clockwork plot precision, we remember it because we relate to people and the events happening to them.Without giving too much away, the hero and his sidekick Darwnin-esque-action-professor manage to first screw up history big time and then put things back in place with many personal lessons learned concerning life, love and the pursuit of alternate realities.Does it all work well together? Surely the novel is a great read and highly entertaining, but a there is also a persistent sense that Fry is trying to make a point he can't quite get across. Unfortunately the one obvious message can't be accurate since the reader might have to conclude at the end that we should be glad we had a Hitler because the most likely alternative would have been much worse. Certainly it is arguable that only one possible outcome is presented from a range of historical possibilities. However, other collaborating details, for example the personalities of the other soldiers waiting in the wings besides Hitler in the trenches of World War 1, can not give the reader any other options for seeing how things might have turned out for the better.Although this novel is written much later than The Liar, it uses surprisingly more primitive narrative constructs, something I wasn't expecting. For example Stephen Fry uses a lot of lists and litanies to get a point across, which is something the Victorians loved to do but which has run its course. Even Helprin in his novel Freddy and Fredericka discovered it doesn't work anymore and has since abandoned it. Fry shows off not only his deep knowledge of World War 2 but also flaunts his linguistic skill by subtly playing with English-isms vs American-isms. A clearer case of temporal plot for occurs when the author clearly points out when we should remember something for later usage. A box of bright orange pills spills on the ground and the owner starts screaming that these are highly dangerous. Surely these pills must be useful for something later in the book. And they are.It's hard not to like a Fry novel, the man is a really good writer and his plots are quite refreshing, not to mention that his stories are quite entertaining. Making History is an odd one however, it is a quick read of something that felt like it was meant to be something bigger. A recommended read but also pick up some of the author's other novels.

[booklove2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I think that this book should considered a classic. I absolutely loved it. One of my favorite books ever. The concept is intriguing.. a world without Hitler.. but I wish that the results would have been more pleasant. I guess it goes to show that ANYTHING could be worse.. even without having Adolf Hitler in the world (And I can't believe I'm typing this right now, however if you read the book, you would see what I mean).

[bendv_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Having become quite the fan of Stephen Fry, thanks largely to QI, I became rather interested when I heard he'd also written a few novels. The plot of Making History only intrigued me more. It's basically this: Michael Young, a history PhD student at Cambridge writing a thesis on Adolf Hitler's childhood, meets an aging German scientist named Leo Zuckermann, seemingly a Jew whose father died at Auschwitz. Zuckermann passionately hates Adolf Hitler, and has created a machine that allows him to see into the past, and, it turns out, transport materials there as well (though not actually travel back in time). Young, a painfully awkward nerdy type, worried about taking his final step out of the world of education into the real world, convinces Zuckermann, overwhelmed with emotion due to his past (revealed in detail toward the end of Book One, I won't give it away), to use his machine to prevent the birth of Adolf Hitler. Both assume they are going to create a better world. As I'm sure you can guess, things don't turn out as planned, since it is not just the 'great men' of history that determine its course. Making History is an extremely impressive novel. I was expecting something with a lot of humour, this being Stephen Fry, and while there are some humorous moments, especially at the beginning of the novel, Fry does not let humour triumph over the plot, which is very strong. Though the novel comes in at nearly 600 pages, it's paced very well for the most part. The start was perhaps a tad slow, but it was beneficial because it established the characters well, making me care much more about their fate. Interspersed with the chapters from Michael's perspective (making up much of the book) are chapters in third person considering the early life of Adolf Hitler, particularly during his time in World War One. Fry portrays the characters well, and gives a surprisingly sympathetic portrayal of Hitler, without making us like him. On the strength of this work, I'll probably be picking up at least one of Fry's other three novels. His passionate concern for the subject matter, combined with the strength of his characters and plot, make for a highly entertaining read.

[patrickdjoyce · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Unfortunately mundane title for an engaging time travel story whose alternative-history fulcrum is somewhat guessable (although that doesn't lessen the suspense); a couple of surprises besides.

[tlievens_3 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Although I admired and loved Fry's stylistically superb and witty writing, I was a bit disappointed by the simplistic plot of the book and its twists. Especially, towards the end of the book seemed to be finalised hastily and all loose ends were tied together loosely. But as said, I did very much enjoy the creativity and love with which Fry handle the English language. It made the book very much worth finishing.

[frantatt · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very gripping - couldn't put it down. Read it all morning. Liked the plot, hated the bits written as film script. Also the occasional flights of fancy bits. However his prose is awesome. 'The strip light spanked itself awake'

[eruntane · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was not the kind of book I expected Stephen Fry to write - somehow I never saw anything so close to sci fi as his style - but it was as brilliantly executed as you would expect from him. Very readable, and I loved his way of using screenplay style to capture the more cinematic passages. (If I'd thought of it first I'd do it myself, but I suppose now it would be copying.) The only thing I would say against the novel is that you wonder about Michael's motives - the suspicion crept into my mind that he really only makes so much effort to put things right so that he can get laid legally. The fact that in alternate reality the Jewish people have been completely wiped out of Europe, and that racial segregation in the US hasn't progressed beyond the 1930s gets very little "screen time" by comparison. But I suppose it's only fair for writers to get to air their own particular hang-ups in their own work.

[pauliharman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A highly readable, entertaining alternate history novel. What if Hitler was never born? That's the question that Fry asks in this novel. A standard trope of time travel - be careful what you wish for; this novel paints a picture of a future world which is, in many ways, much worse than ours. The ending is highly satisfying.

[skullstuffing_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Science fiction and World War II? Only Stephen Fry and his brand of absurd wit can get away with it.

[jaygheiser · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

With a witty and even profound beginning, and an interesting premise for an alternate history, the story becomes increasingly tenuous and trivial as it accelerates towards its fairy tale ending.

[judithann_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'm not one for stories about Hitler, Nazis and the second world war, but I like Stephen Fry's writings- well, it turned out this was about time travel, not war! A fantastic book, very engaging. After making sure Hitler does not get born, a student, Michael, ends up in a different country, with different friends, and a different course of study, because history has changed, and so has his past. He of course does not "remember" anything in this new life, so does not know who his friends are, where the library is and where his parents live. The world does not seem a better place, and in the end, he goes back to his original life. But it is not quite the same as before!

[lizzybeans11 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An amazing work of fiction if there ever was! I had no idea what to expect when I first picked up this book, but I have to say I was more than pleasantly surprised. The whole plot of the book is so unique and cutting edge and I love that it was well thought out through to the end.If you like Stephen Fry and British humour you will love this book.

[anome_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The weakest of Fry's novels in my opinion. While it explores interesting themes, and proposes an interesting and all too believable alternative history of the 20th Century, there's something unsatisfying about the story.

[paulmorriss · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This time travel story had a guessable plot, which I correctly guessed. However it sets it up so logically, and there are unexpected twists so I didn't feel disappointed by my great perception.

[thecrow2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Can Stephen Fry write a SF? If we define the alternative histories as a subgenre of SF (and we do) then the answer is yes. It`s an entertaining, thought-provokingly clever book about one (or two) alternative worlds and the consequences of seemingly positive deeds.