The Aphasian posted:

Can anyone suggest a book (or even tell me the proper term) for whatever the opposite of alternate-history fantasy/sci-fi is? I'm thinking that all the main historical points up to now are the same, but the details are different--Hannibal crossed the Alps on Dragons, or WWII with laser rifles, or the Apollo moon landing actually involved enlisting the aid of the god Apollo. Something that explores how the more things change, the more they stay the same, or that, at least politically, escalation would assure similar outcomes whether with atomic bombs or magical plagues. I read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and liked it quite a bit.

I am not looking for a book where the protagonist has the magical/alien nature of our history revealed to him (all the tech advances of modern times where from the Roswell crash all along!), I want it to be general knowledge, and not "what if the conspiracy theories were true".