How much poorer is the world for history's missing pages?
A fictional story recounting the lives and "what if" moments of fictional men of influence and notoriety. Characters such as Themistodes, the would be great Greek scientist and explorer, and as such discoverer of the New World, had he not had a run in with poisoned food when still a baby. Or Guissare, the would be great Italian religious leader of the 11th century who, following the messages sent from God through angels who appeared to him, did perpetuate the "No Clothes" movement which subsequently lead to the Wars of the Clothes. Unfortunately, this amazing battle of wills, those for a nudist society and those for a clothed society was never to come to pass, as Guissare was killed in a bar brawl just days prior to these visions. Or John Bennington, whose chance at greatness surpassing that of William Shakespeare was thwarted by his would be mentor and benefactor taking a single glance at the establishment where he was employed and deciding to pass by, therefore removing all hope of a chance meeting.
The story speaks to the inadvertent altering of history by those individuals who don't escape their predicaments, whether violence, pestilence, or persecution or who don't get their chance meeting. "Where we err is in assuming that...men of destiny always escape disaster. It occurs to me that, the law of averages being what it is, there must have been many a potential history-changer who didn't escape it. It is of these and their effect on history that I now write. Because of their early demise or of their failure to get into the racket that destiny intended them to get into, history is different" (p.10). The author asks...what if the circumstances that inspired Shakespeare didn't exist, or what if George Washington never made it off the battle field, or, as a strong historical reference (written facetiously) Mary and Joseph never found shelter. What if?
