Throughout history, great and terrible events have often hinged upon luck. Andrew Roberts has asked a team of twelve leading historians and biographers what might have happened if major world events had gone differently? Each concentrating in the area in which they are a leading authority, historians as distinguished as Antonia Fraser (Gunpowder Plot), Norman Stone (Sarajevo 1914) and Anne Somerset (the Spanish Armada) consider: 'What if ...?' Robert Cowley demonstrates how nearly Britain won the American war of independence. In her first publication since her acclaimed GEORGIANA, Amanda Foreman muses on Lincoln's Northern States of America and Lord Palmerston's Great Britain going to war, as they so nearly did in 1861. Whether it's Stalin fleeing Moscow in 1941(Simon Sebag Montefiore), or Napoleon not being forced to retreat from it in 1812 (Adam Zamoyski), the events covered here are important, world-changing ones.

安德魯‧羅伯茲（Andrew Roberts）

假如他的父母當年不曾因相戀而結婚，他就不會在1963年呱呱墜地，我們也沒必要在此介紹他瞭。假如當年劍橋大學不願讓他入學，他就不會獲得劍橋大學岡維爾與凱爾斯學院（Gonville and Caius College）近代史最高榮譽瞭。之後，假如他因為與生俱來的生意頭腦而投入商場，就不會有接下來一連串著作瞭：哈裏法剋斯伯爵的傳記《神聖之狐》（The Holy Fox, 1991）、極具爭議的《卓越的邱吉爾團隊》（Eminent Churchillians, 1994）、《拿破崙與威靈頓》（Napoleon and Wellington, 2001）、《希特勒與邱吉爾：領導的奧秘》（Hitler and Churchill: Secrets of Leadership, 2003）。此外，假如他沒有寫下維多利亞時代首相索爾斯貝裏侯爵三世的傳記《索爾斯貝裏：維多利亞時代的巨人》（Salisbury: Victorian Titan, 1999），就不會因此榮獲沃夫森歷史獎（Wolfson History Prize）與詹姆士‧史登非文學類銀筆獎（James Stern Silver Pen Award for Non-Ficton），也不會在2001年當選皇傢文學學會院士。最後，假如他沒有恰巧在一傢餐廳中與傳記作傢芙裏妲（Leonie Frieda）比鄰而坐，這位美麗的作傢就不會成為他的女友。更重要的是，假如沒有網際網路的誕生，讀者就無法從他的個人網站www.andrew-roberts.net認識他並瞭解他的著作瞭。