A secret history (or shadow history) is a revisionist interpretation of either fictional or real (or known) history which is claimed to have been deliberately suppressed or forgotten. Secret history may refer to: secret history — revisionist history highlight information purportedly suppressed or forgotten Anecdota — Procopius account of the court of Justinian The Secret History — novel by Donna Tartt Secret History (television documentary series) — broadcast on Channel 4 The Secret History of the Mongols — 13th-century Mongol literary classic... In Parson Weems Fable (1939) Grant Wood takes a sly poke at a traditional hagiographical account of George Washington Historical revisionism has both a legitimate academic use and a pejorative meaning. ... This article is about the study of time in human terms. ...

Secret histories of the real world

Originally secret histories were designed as non-fictional, revealing or claiming to reveal the truth behind the "spin": the exemplar is the Anecdota of Procopius of Caesarea (known for centuries as the Secret History), which portrays the reign of the Roman Emperor Justinian I to the great disadvantage of the Emperor, his wife and some of his court. The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Procopius of Caesarea (in Greek Προκόπιος, c. ... The writings of Procopius of Caesarea (500 ? - 565 ?), in Palestine, are the primary source of information for the rule of the emperor Justinian. ... Ordinary Magistrates Extraordinary Magistrates Titles and Honors Emperor Politics and Law This article discusses the nature of the imperial dignity, and its dynastic development throughout the history of the Empire. ... This article is about the Roman emperor. ...

Fictional secret histories

Secret history is sometimes used in a long-running science fiction or fantasy universe to preserve continuity with the present by reconciling paranormal, anachronistic, or otherwise notable but unrecorded events with what actually happened in known history. Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... For other uses, see Fantasy (disambiguation). ... In fiction, continuity is consistency of the characteristics of persons, plot, objects, places and events seen by the reader or viewer. ... Paranormal is an umbrella term used to describe a wide variety of reported anomalous phenomena. ... An anachronism (from Greek ana, back, and chronos, time) is an artifact that belongs to another time, a person who seems to be displaced in time (i. ...

Examples

• In the Doctor Who serial Remembrance of the Daleks, the Seventh Doctor ironically chides his companion for not knowing about such events as the Yeti in the Underground (The Web of Fear) or the Loch Ness Monster's appearance in London (Terror of the Zygons), making a point that the "historical events" of Doctor Who ought to have affected public consciousness in some way, yet clearly failed to do so because of human self-deception and denial.
• Blackadder: the first series has a forgotten King Richard IV of England
• Dark Skies
• The X-Files
• Stargate
• Turn A Gundam
• The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson
• Many of the novels of Robert Graves are in this genre, e.g. I, Claudius, Claudius the God, Count Belisarius, Wife to Mr Milton
• The Crying of Lot 49, Gravity's Rainbow and Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon
• In the Country of the Blind by Michael Flynn is about a secret society that attempts to influence history with mathematics calculated on Babbage analytical engines.
• Harry Paget Flashman is placed at the centre of many 19th century events by George MacDonald Fraser.
• The Shadow Hearts series of video games uses secret histories as its trademark style.
• Fantasy author Tim Powers's predominant style of writing is based on secret histories.
• Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle, by Neal Stephenson, both contain elements of secret history.
• Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
• The Plot to Save Socrates by Paul Levinson centers around a secret Socratic dialogue about a plan to save his life, but not change history as we know it – revealing the "real" reason that Socrates refused Crito's offer of escape.
• The Gabriel Knight series of computer adventure games.
• The Secret History, a novel by Donna Tartt, focuses on six Classics students and their pedagogue. (Procopius)
• Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco is both an homage to and parody of secret history stories, wherein a group of scholars and their supercomputer 'discover' a ridiculously far-reaching historical conspiracy that involves the Knights Templar, the Comte de Saint-Germain and dozens of historical personalities.

This article is about the television series. ... Remembrance of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from October 5 to October 26, 1988. ... -1... The Web of Fear is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from February 3 to March 9, 1968. ... Terror of the Zygons is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from August 30 to September 20, 1975 // Synopsis The Fourth Doctor is summoned to Earth by a emergency signalling device he left with the Brigadier who... For other uses, see Blackadder (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Blackadder (disambiguation). ... King Richard IV of England was a fictional character in the first series of the BBC comedy series The Black Adder, played by Brian Blessed. ... Dark Skies is an United States sci-fi/drama television series which aired 1996-1997 for 20 episodes. ... The X-Files is an American Peabody and Emmy Award-winning science fiction television series created by Chris Carter, which first aired on September 10, 1993, and ended on May 19, 2002. ... An activated Stargate, the central object of the fictional Stargate universe, here depicted in the SG-1 television series. ... ∀ Gundam or Turn-A Gundam ) is a 50 episode anime series that aired between 1999 and 2000 on Japans FNN networks and the anime satellite television network, Animax, created for the Gundam Big Bang 20th Anniversary celebration. ... “Illuminatus” redirects here. ... Robert Joseph Shea (1933 - March 10, 1994) was the co-author (with Robert Anton Wilson) of The Illuminatus! Trilogy. ... Robert Anton Wilson Robert Anton Wilson or RAW (January 18, 1932 – January 11, 2007) was a prolific American novelist, essayist, philosopher, psychologist, futurologist, anarchist, and conspiracy theory researcher. ... I, Claudius is a novel by Robert Graves, (ISBN 067972477X) first published in 1934, dealing sympathetically with the life of the Roman Emperor Claudius and the history of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty and Roman Empire, from Julius Caesars assassination in 44 BC to Caligulas assassination in 41 AD... I, Claudius is a novel by Robert Graves, (ISBN 067972477X) first published in 1934, dealing sympathetically with the life of the Roman Emperor Claudius and the history of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty and Roman Empire, from Julius Caesars assassination in 44 BC to Caligulas assassination in 41 AD... Count Belisarius is a historical novel by Robert Graves, first published in 1938, recounting the life of the Byzantine general Belisarius. ... The Crying of Lot 49 (1966) is a novel by the author Thomas Pynchon. ... Gravitys Rainbow is an epic postmodern novel written by Thomas Pynchon and first published on February 28, 1973. ... Mason & Dixon book cover Mason & Dixon, a post-modern novel by Thomas Pynchon first published in 1997, centers on the collaboration of the historical Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in their astronomical and surveying exploits in Cape Colony, Saint Helena, Great Britain and along the Mason-Dixon line in British... Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. ... Michael Flynn, (born 1947), sometimes published as Michael F. Flynn, worked full time as a statistician and wrote science fiction as a sideline for several years. ... For the Europe album, see Secret Society (Europe album). ... Charles Babbage Charles Babbage (December 26, 1791 – October 18, 1871) was an English mathematician, analytical philosopher and (proto_) computer scientist who was the first person to come up with the idea of a programmable computer. ... The analytical engine, an important step in the history of computers, was the design of a mechanical general-purpose computer by the British professor of mathematics Charles Babbage. ... “Flashman” redirects here. ... George MacDonald Fraser, OBE (born 2 April 1926 in Carlisle) is a British author of both historical novels and non-fiction books. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Tim Powers at the Israeli ICon 2005 SF&F Convention Timothy Thomas Powers (born February 29, 1952) is an American science fiction and fantasy author. ... Cryptonomicon is a 1999 novel by Neal Stephenson. ... The Baroque Cycle, a series of books written by Neal Stephenson, appeared in print in 2003 and 2004. ... Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer, known primarily for his science fiction works in the postcyberpunk genre with a penchant for explorations of society, mathematics, currency, and the history of science. ... Basic Information The Plot To Save Socrates was published and copyrighted in 2006. ... Paul Levinson, 2002 Paul Levinson (b. ... This article is about a fictional character. ... The Secret History, the first novel by Mississippi-born writer Donna Tartt, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1992. ... Donna Tartt (born 23 December 1963) is an American novelist. ... Procopius of Caesarea (in Greek Προκόπιος, c. ... Foucaults Pendulum (original title: Il pendolo di Foucault) is a novel by Italian novelist and philosopher Umberto Eco. ... Umberto Eco (born January 5, 1932) is an Italian medievalist, semiotician, philosopher and novelist, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose (Il nome della rosa) and his many essays. ... For other uses, see Knights Templar (disambiguation). ... The Count of St Germain († February 27, 1784) was a courtier, adventurer, inventor, amateur scientist, violinist, amateur composer, and generally mysterious gentleman; he also had at least pretensions of alchemy. ...

Secret history thrillers

A certain type of thriller can be defined as secret history. In such novels, a daring spy, assassin or commando nearly carries out a coup which would have drastically changed history as we know it. Since this is not alternate history but a secret event in our own history, the reader knows in advance that this attempt would be foiled, that all persons in the know would be sworn to secrecy and all evidence be consigned to a top secret archives, where supposedly it still is. Nevertheless, the plot fascinates many readers who want to see how close history comes to being changed (usually, very very close) and exactly how the attempt would be foiled. The thriller is a broad genre of literature, film, and television. ... Alternative history or alternate history can be: A History told from an alternative viewpoint, rather than from the view of imperialist, conqueror, or explorer. ...

Two highly successful novels are considered to have started this sub-genre:

• Eye of the Needle by Ken Follet: a German spy in 1944 nearly succeeds in foiling D-Day;
• The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth: an assassin nearly succeeds in killing Charles De Gaulle, president of France, in 1963.

These two novels set the framework for many later books: following step by step both the fiendishly clever, competent and ruthless perpetrator in carrying out his design (it is usually a man) and the equally clever and competent hunter, hot on his spoor throughout the book, but who would catch up with him only at the (very cataclysmic) end. Typically, historical figures – including very famous ones – appear in some key scenes, but are not major actors. Eye of the Needle is a spy thriller novel written by British author Ken Follett. ... Ken Follett (born June 5, 1949) is a British author of thrillers and historical novels. ... Land on Normandy In military parlance, D-Day is a term often used to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. ... The Day of the Jackal is a thriller novel by Frederick Forsyth, first published in 1971, about a professional assassin who is contracted by the OAS, a French terrorist group of the early 1960s, to kill Charles de Gaulle. ... Frederick Forsyth. ... Please post proper article, this page was tampered with, thank you. ...

Many other novels of this type followed, most of them with World War II backgrounds. Follet himself published at least two others: Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

• The Key to Rebecca: a German spy in Cairo nearly succeeds in letting Rommel win in Alamein.
• The Man from St. Petersburg: a Russian anarchist in 1914 Britain nearly succeeds, by assassinating a key envoy of the Tsar, in averting the First World War.

Works of other writers fitting within this type include: For other uses, see Cairo (disambiguation). ... Rommel is the family name of Eddie Rommel baseball pitcher; Erwin Rommel (German Field Marshal), and his son Manfred Rommel (former Mayor of Stuttgart). ... Alamein can refer to: El Alamein, a town in Egypt The First and Second Battle of El Alamein, during World War II The Alamein railway line, Melbourne, Australia Alamein railway station, Melbourne This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ...

• Enigma by Robert Harris: an embittered code-breaker nearly betrays to Nazi Germany the vital and closely guarded secret that the Allies are able to read its secret messages.
• The Eagle Has Landed by Jack Higgins: German commandos nearly succeed in kidnapping Churchill out of wartime England.
• The Last Crossing by Harvey Ardman: German agents nearly succeed in sinking the French luxury liner SS Normandie in late 1939, with 3000 passengers on board including many VIPs.
• The Day They Stole the Queen Mary by Terence Hughes: German prisoners of war transported on board the RMS Queen Mary mutiny and nearly succeed in capturing Churchill and his entire entourage, who are also travelling on the same ship; with this ploy foiled, the German mastermind escapes to plot again, and very nearly succeeds in assassinating Churchill (see [1]).
• The Romanov Succession by Brian Garfield: taking advantage of the 1941 Nazi attack on the Soviet Union, Russian exiles attempt to assassinate Stalin and restore the monarchy.
• The Night Letter by Paul Spike: Nazi agents nearly succeed in blackmailing Roosevelt in 1940 and forcing him not to run for a third term.
• The Berlin Warning by Nicholas Guild: Nazi Germany in October 1941 nearly succeeds in betraying its Japanese ally and warning the US of the impending Pearl Harbor attack – which would have prevented the US entering the war.
• The Ninth Man by John Lee: a few years later, a Nazi agent penetrates the White House and nearly succeeds in assassinating Roosevelt.
• Stalag Texas, also by John Lee: escaped German prisoners nearly succeed in destroying the American nuclear laboratory at Los Alamos.
• The Scorpion's Sting by Edward A. Politz, Jr.: Nazi Germany does manage to build a nuclear bomb in 1945, and a U-boat nearly succeeds in using it to destroy Boston and thus stave off Germany's final defeat.

Different types of secret history thriller include: Look up enigma in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Robert Harris may refer to the following people: Rob Harris (curler), a Canadian curler. ... The Eagle Has Landed is a book by Jack Higgins first published in 1975. ... Jack Higgins is the principal pseudonym of UK novelist Harry Patterson (b. ... Churchill redirects here. ... The Last Crossing is a novel by Canadian writer Guy Vanderhaeghe, published in 2002. ... The Normandie was a French ocean liner built in Saint-Nazaire France for Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. ... types/51 sh/sh liner/36 qma/qma. ... Churchill redirects here. ... Brian Francis Wynne Garfield was born in New York in 1939. ... Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვი&#4314... The Night Letter is a 1978 book by Paul Spike, with a double-layered structure: an anti-Nazi spy thriller on the background of the early part of the Second World War, and an exposure of cynical and machiavellian manoeuvrings in the American corridors of power. ... Paul Spike Paul Robert Spike (born 3 August 1947) is an author, editor and journalist who grew up in New Yorks Greenwich Village but has lived in Europe, primarily London, most of his life. ... Roosevelt is a surname of Dutch origin, with the literal meaning of rose field. ... This article is about the harbor in Hawaii. ... John Lee is an American writer of thrillers, many of them set in Second World War settings, as well as non-fiction books. ... John Lee is an American writer of thrillers, many of them set in Second World War settings, as well as non-fiction books. ... Los Alamos usually refers to the United States national laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico which was founded during the World War II effort to develop the atomic bomb (the Manhattan Project), was one of the two laboratories developing the USAs nuclear weapons during the Cold War, and is... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 lifted nuclear fallout some 18 km (60,000 feet) above the epicenter. ... Nickname: City on the Hill, Beantown, The Hub (of the Universe)1, Athens of America, The Cradle of Revolution, Puritan City, Americas Walking City Location in Massachusetts, USA Counties Suffolk County Mayor Thomas M. Menino(D) Area    - City 232. ...

• The Leader and the Damned by Colin Forbes: Hitler was assassinated in 1943 but his death was kept secret and the man who led Nazi Germany in the last two years of the war was a double.
• XPD by Len Deighton: Churchill was far more of an appeaser than official history records, and in June 1940 he had secret meeting with Hitler to discuss peace on the basis of recognizing the German domination of Europe; decades later, the documents recording this shameful secret are the subject of an intensive and deadly power struggle.
• An Exchange of Eagles by Own Sela: in 1940, Nazi Germany and the United States both have nuclear programs advanced enough that both powers would have full nuclear arsenals by 1943 and would be likely to use them, turning World War II into a nuclear holocaust; but two courageous officers, an American and a German, make a personal pact to sabotage and retard their countries' respective programs – thus creating the history we know, where nuclear arms appeared on the scene only at the very end of the war, and destruction was limited to two Japanese cities rather than the entire world.

Colin Forbes is the principal pseudonym of British novelist Raymond Harold Sawkins (born in Hampstead, London in 1923). ... Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945, standard German pronunciation in the IPA) was the Führer (leader) of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party) and of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. ... Look up double in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... original hardback edition cover For other uses of XPD see: XPD (disambiguation) XPD is a Spy novel by Len Deighton, published in 1981, and set in 1979, roughly contemporary to the time it was written. ... Len Deighton (left) teaches Michael Caine how to break an egg on the set of The IPCRESS File. ... Churchill redirects here. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Nuclear Holocaust is the concept of the eradication of the human race through the means of Nuclear warfare. ...

Secret histories of fictional worlds

"Retcon", alteration of the canonical account of past events in serial fiction, often employs aspects of secret history. A seeming continuity breach might be "revealed" to alter the truth of what readers were previously led to believe was a definitive story. A retcon might equally well convert an established history into a secret history. Such transformations occur with particular frequency in long-running superhero comic books. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Canonical is an adjective derived from canon. ... In fiction, continuity is consistency of the characteristics of persons, objects, places and events seen by the reader or viewer. ... For other uses, see Superhero (disambiguation). ...

Examples

• When Arthur Conan Doyle wrote "The Final Problem" he fully intended to kill off Sherlock Holmes and write no further books and stories about him. Faced with massive pressure and protests by the famous detective's fans, he finally gave in. "The Adventure of the Empty House" revealed that Holmes did not die after all, and recounted a secret history of three years in which Holmes had been wandering the world while everybody – including even his close friend Dr. Watson – believed him to be dead.

• Remembrance of the Daleks also alludes to hidden fictional history, establishing that during the events of An Unearthly Child the First Doctor had in his possession a super-weapon, the Hand of Omega stolen from his own people, the Time Lords. The story also implies that he knew of the Daleks before he "first" met them.

• DC Comics' Crisis on Infinite Earths made years of "established" events and characters from the DC Universe (for example the existence of Krypto) "un-happen". In the revised continuity only a few privileged characters remember the old continuity.

• Alan Moore has offered many revisionist histories of known works.
  • During the revival of Miracleman in the 1980s, he showed that the original lighthearted adventures had taken place in a virtual reality.
  • In Lost Girls, he reveals events of Alice in Wonderland, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Peter Pan as fantasies invented to cover up memories of childhood sexual abuse.
  • He revised Swamp Thing's origin twice, revealing the title character's origin not as an altered human but a sentient plant which had absorbed a dead human's memories. Later, he established Swamp Thing as a supernatural plant elemental, rather than a science-based mutated vegetation.
  • In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the histories of various characters differ from the books in which they previously appeared, especially their deaths (notably Allan Quatermaine, Dr Jekyll and the Invisible Man); according to Moore's tale, the books contain errors.
  • In From Hell, Moore revises the Jack the Ripper murders as being part of a grand conspiracy running through various organizations and social classes in London (the 1979 movie Murder by Decree had a similar premise).

• Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton universe heavily influenced Alan Moore's subsequent League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Both these universes tie together many disparate fictional creations in a variety of surprising ways.

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, DL (22 May 1859–7 July 1930) was a Scottish author most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger. ... The Adventure of the Final Problem is a short story by Arthur Conan Doyle, featuring his detective character Sherlock Holmes. ... A portrait of Sherlock Holmes by Sidney Paget from the Strand Magazine, 1891 Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who first appeared in publication in 1887. ... The Adventure of the Empty House, one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes. ... An Unearthly Child (also known as 100,000 BC, among other titles, see below) is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 23 November to 14 December 1963. ... The First Doctor is the name given to the first incarnation of the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. ... The Hand of Omega is a fictional device from the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who. ... This article is about the Time Lords from Doctor Who. ... Daleks can refer to either: Plural of Dalek, the fictional robot; or Daleks (video game). ... DC Comics is an American comic book and related media company. ... Crisis on Infinite Earths was a 12-issue comic book limited series (identified as a 12-part maxi-series) and crossover event, produced by DC Comics in 1985 in order to simplify their fifty-year-old continuity. ... Cover to the History of the DC Universe trade paperback. ... Krypto, also known as Krypto the Superdog, is a fictional character; he is Supermans pet dog in the various Superman comic books published by DC Comics. ... For other persons named Alan Moore, see Alan Moore (disambiguation). ... Miracleman, originally known as Marvelman in his native United Kingdom, is a fictional character, a comic book superhero created in 1954 by writer-artist Mick Anglo for publisher L. Miller & Son. ... This article is about the simulation technology. ... Lost Girls is an erotic graphic novel depicting the sexual adventures of three important female fictional characters of the late 19th and early 20th Century, namely Alice from Alices Adventures in Wonderland, Dorothy Gale from The Wizard of Oz, and Wendy Darling from Peter Pan. ... Alice in Wonderland is the widely known and used title for Alices Adventures in Wonderland, a book written by Lewis Carroll -- as well as several movie adaptations of the book -- and is also the setting for several short stories. ... The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) is a childrens book written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W.W. Denslow. ... This article is about the play by J.M. Barrie. ... Bad Touch redirects here. ... For other uses, see Swamp Thing (disambiguation). ... For the film adaptation, see The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (film). ... From Hell is a graphic novel by writer Alan Moore and artist Eddie Campbell speculating upon the identity and motives of Jack the Ripper. ... Jack the Ripper is the pseudonym given to an unidentified serial killer active in the largely impoverished Whitechapel area of London, England in the second half of 1888. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... A still from Murder by Decree showing the Goulston Street graffiti containing the word Juwes, which is portrayed erroneously as a Masonic term. ... Philip José Farmer (born January 26, 1918) is an American author, principally known for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. ... The Wold Newton family. ... Promotional still for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a comic book series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin ONeill, published under the Americas Best Comics imprint of DC Comics. ...

See also

• Historical fantasy
• Alternative history