AMAZING OR ABSURD? YOUR CHOICE!

If it happens today we call it "news." If it happened yesterday we call it "history." But both still answer to the same classic questions -- Who, What, When, Where, Why. Perhaps the most intriguing is the Who and the What.

At first glance it would seem the Who to any story is obvious. Ahhh, but not to the conspiracy-theorist. These are the folks who dwell and thrive in such venues as their daily blogsites or corner sports bar from where they spin dark and compelling tales of Who really was Mary Magdalene... Who really shot Lincoln...who really caused Wilson his mysterious stroke...who really planned the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor ...who really plotted JFK's assassination...who really pulled the trigger that killed Martin Luther King...who really invoked the Cubs curse ...and of course who really is this Kenyan terrorist living in the White House?

Then if your question has a really outlandish answer, maybe Oliver Stone will make the movie.

Still more intriguing is the What question. Or, to refine it a bit, the What-If question that lurks somewhere inside every major turning point in history. Think about it. History is traditionally a chronicle of What happened; but to the curious historian, there is always that flip-side. That sequence of events that MIGHT have happened and WOULD have changed the world.

Like any good jewelery or art dealer, it hardly make sense to simply examine the front-side of what you're buying.

And so may I bequeath you some of the very same What-If's with which I frequently teased my history students. Each an historical tease well worth the tickle. What if there was a Lilith not just an Eve...? What if the Hebrews were never in Egypt?...What if Hannibal not Rome won?....What if Emperor Constantine's Council at Ephesus had not declared Jesus to be God?....What if the Vatican had stopped selling indulgences once Martin Luther protested? ...What if the Brits had defeated the Colonists?....What if the Confederacy had won the Civil War? ....What if Nevile Chamberlain had struck a deal with Hitler to stay out of the Continent thereby keeping its Empire?...What if the Supreme Court had not selected George W Bush in 2000 after the popular vote had elected Al Gore?

Pleasant dreams....