Making History

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There have been many books and films regarding time-travel and time-alteration that ask the question ‘if you could stop something from happening, would you?’ I’ve spent the last week thinking about this question with Stephen Fry and his interesting exploration into the idea, Making History.

The book tells the story of young history major Michael Young who is on the verge of handing in his thesis on Hitler’s early life, which he is convinced that it will set him up for life. On the morning of the due date, his path crosses with that of Leo Zuckerman, an ageing physicist who is obsessed with history’s darkest period. The two begin a friendship formed on the mutual fascination with this period in history and, through a series of ideas and social connections, come up with a way to rewrite the past.

I have been thoroughly enjoying Fry’s retellings of the ancient Greek myths, so after Mythos this book was alluring for obvious reasons. Fry’s fascination with history, mingled with his crisp and intelligent prose is a match made in heaven. Though, I have to admit that I found this book a little tricky to get into. Being an original work of fiction, Fry plays around with genre and timbre in Making History, which sometimes makes it confusing as to what type of book it is.

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Of course, the central appeal is the exploration of the question ‘what would have happened if Hitler hadn’t been born?’ (for the answer, you’ll have to read the book). A fascinating story of love, identity, and semi science fiction ensues.

Where the reading experience can get a little bit frustrating/confusing is in the various chapters that tell the parallel story of what’s happening in the past (which also reflects the contents of Michael’s thesis). There’s a lot of jumping back and forth through time and it does take some time to get used to. The characters themselves are pretty ‘meh’ and lacklustre, but Fry’s humour, twinkling tone of voice, and original ideas make Making History quite a fascinating read.

Making History was written by Stephen Fry in 1996 and first published in Great Britain by Hutchinson and published in paperback the following year by Arrow Books.