In this new collection of essays, some of the world's most important historians speculate about some of America's most intriguing crossroads. Spanning the years from independence to Watergate, What If? America poses irresistible questions and provides brilliant answers.

Among these Antony Beevor (Stalingrad) entertains the possibility of Eisenhower's capture of Berlin before the Soviets' arrival in 1945; Caleb Carr (The Alienist) asks what if the American Revolution had not happened and Robert Dallek (An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy 1917-1963) on one of the most agonizing American `what if's' of all: what would have happened if JFK hadn't been assassinated.

Engaging, thought-provoking and convincingly argued, these essays shed new light on the most powerful nation in the world, and are indispensible for anyone remotely interested in how the world became what it is today.