Reviewed by Sarah Stuart for Readers' Favorite

According to Thom Kudla, History Is History, except when it isn’t. All over the world, from time beyond time, men and women have made choices and influenced history. Suppose some of our ancestors had picked a different path, found an alternative way of solving a problem, or been more, or less, greedy for acclaim, money, or power? The ripples of one simple action, or perhaps a decision made by a world leader, would have spread and changed the course of history. In thirty-seven flash fiction pieces with different settings and characters – tales of “what if” and “just suppose” – Thom Kudla ponders on the past. Might something that you do today change the course of history? It is an intriguing thought, and one you cannot fail to consider as you read.

Where the Sky and Sea Meet considers what a man might have found had he ventured to explore the earth before Christopher Columbus discovered it was round. The Redcoats Never Came, one of the shortest stories, has a self-explanatory title, but it is an amusingly wry take on the American War of Independence. Shortcut to the American Dream has a comic twist in its tail. Freud’s Bad Dream echoes thoughts I occasionally entertain, but that’s another story. If Philo Farnsworth Were Alive is a very fleeting flash – nineteen succinct words. The Late President Reagan assumes the assassination attempt succeeded. History Is History by Thom Kudla is creative, entertaining, and thought-provoking. It left me curious about “what if” long after I finished reading the final story.