Historian Richard J. Evans in conversation with Diarmaid Ferriter.

The question ‘what if?’ has always fascinated historians. Over the past few decades alternative history has become a popular stomping ground for serious historians. In his new book, Altered Pasts, Richard J. Evans turns a critical, slightly jaundiced eye on the subject. Most importantly, Evans takes counterfactual history seriously, looking at the insights, pitfalls and intellectual implications of changing one thread in the weave of history.