A bullet misses its target in Sarajevo, a prospective Austrian painter is admitted to the Vienna Academy, Lord Halifax becomes British Prime Minister in 1940: seemingly small twists of fate on which globally significant events may have depended. Alternate history has long been the subject of games, war strategies, and science fiction, but in recent years it has become a popular area for serious historians. Richard J. Evans now casts a critical, slightly grim look at the subject. Altered Pasts examines the intellectual implications of historical counterfactual assumptions. Importantly, Evans takes counterfactual history seriously, examining the diagnoses, pitfalls, and mental effects of altering a single thread in the fabric of history.