Other counterfactual histories are based on a concept from chaos theory called the butterfly effect. According to chaos theory, a very small difference in one initial condition of a dynamical system, such as a butterfly flapping its wings, may cause a series of changes that in the long run produce a vast change in conditions. "Clopton's History of the Confederate States of America, 1861 - 1925" by Carole Elizabeth Scott is different. So that the ramifications of several things that could have happened can be explored in one story, there are several precipitating initial changes in this story, and the story continues much further into the future than does the typical counterfactual history. This story is very unusual in that it takes the form of a textbook. A unique twist is that this counterfactual textbook was co-authored by a fictional college professor and a counterfactual version of Scott. History professors have biases. By taking the form of textbook, this story is able to demonstrate the likely difference between how victorious Confederate historians would have viewed given events and issues than have real world American historians. Real textbooks often have an appendix; so does this counterfactual textbook. The appendix provides biographical sketches of a number of real people. It provide readers with some insights into often not widely known aspects of the real world that guided the author in fabricating a reasonable alternative history.
About the Author: Dr. Carole Elizabeth Scott, a retired professor of economics, most enjoyed teaching American economic history while she was on the faculty of the Richards College of Business at the University of West Georgia. A three-time graduate of Georgia State University (marketing, economics and finance, economics) she has continued editing the Richards College of Business' web journal (http: //www.westga.edu/ bquest) since her retirement. In addition to publishing a textbook entitled "Your Financial Plan, A Consumers' Guide" (Harper and Row, 1979) and articles in academic journals in business and economics, she has published in the "Georgia Historical Quarterly," "Atlanta History", "Agricultural History", and some other historical journals and magazines, including "America's Civil War", "The Civil War Times", and "Blue and Gray". She is the author of a history of the radio and television industries that was published in the "Handbook of American Business History", Volume III (2000). She is the author of one piece of fiction, a science-fiction story published in "Analog" (1966), a science-fiction magazine. Dr. Scott is also a journalist. For 30 years she wrote a weekly newspaper column for the "Times-Georgian" of Carrollton, Georgia. Over several decades a few columns she wrote were published in Atlanta's major newspaper. For the past seven years she has written numerous columns and feature and news stories, taken photographs, and drawn editorial cartoons for the "Star News" of Carrollton. Historical topics are a not infrequent topic of her columns. In recognition of her interest in and knowledge of the War Between the States, two Sons of Confederate Veterans Camps in Carroll County, Georgia made her an honorary member