Michael Swanwick, The Iron Dragon's Daughter (1993). Great work that completely destroys the sentimental aspects of genre fantasy. From within the genre--fairies, elves and all--Swanwick examines the industrial revolution, the Vietnam War, racism and sexism, and the escapist dreams of genre fantasy. A truly great anti-fantasy.
Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita (1938, trans 1967). Astonishing fantasy set in 1930s Moscow, featuring the Devil, Pontius Pilate, the Wandering Jew, and a satire and critique of Stalinist Russia so cutting it is unbelievable that it got past the censors. Utterly brilliant.
The Chrysalids (US title: Re-Birth) is a science fiction novel by John Wyndham, first published in 1955 by Michael Joseph. It is the least typical of Wyndham's major novels, but is regarded by some people as his best.[1]
The Man in the High Castle (1962) is a science fiction alternate history novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. The story of The Man in the High Castle, about daily life under totalitarian Fascist imperialism, occurs in 1962, fourteen years after the end of a longer Second World War (1939–1948). The victorious Axis Powers — Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany — are conducting intrigues against each other in North America, specifically in the former U.S., which surrendered to them once they had conquered Eurasia and destroyed the populaces of Africa.[3]
Particular studies and fields
These are approaches to history; not listed are histories of other fields, such as history of science, history of mathematics and history of philosophy.
Ancient history : the study from the beginning of human history until the Early Middle Ages.
Atlantic history: the study of the history of people living on or near the Atlantic Ocean.
Art History: the study of changes in and social context of art.
Big History: study of history on a large scale across long time frames and epochs through a multi-disciplinary approach.
Chronology: science of localizing historical events in time.
Comparative history: historical analysis of social and cultural entities not confined to national boundaries.
Contemporary history: the study of historical events that are immediately relevant to the present time.
Counterfactual history: the study of historical events as they might have happened in different causal circumstances.
Cultural history: the study of culture in the past.
Digital History: the use of computing technologies to produce digital scholarship.
Economic History: the study of economies in the past.
Futurology: study of the future: researches the medium to long-term future of societies and of the physical world.
Intellectual history: the study of ideas in the context of the cultures that produced them and their development over time.
Maritime history: the study of maritime transport and all the connected subjects.
Modern history : the study of the Modern Times, the era after the Middle Ages.
Military History: the study of warfare and wars in history and what is sometimes considered to be a sub-branch of military history, Naval History.
Natural history: the study of the development of the cosmos, the Earth, biology and interactions thereof.
Paleography: study of ancient texts.
People's history: historical work from the perspective of common people.
Political history: the study of politics in the past.
Psychohistory: study of the psychological motivations of historical events.
Pseudohistory: study about the past that falls outside the domain of mainstream history (sometimes it is an equivalent of pseudoscience).
Social History: the study of the process of social change throughout history.
Universal history: basic to the Western tradition of historiography.
Women's history: the history of female human beings. Gender history is related and covers the perspective of gender.
World History: the study of history from a global perspective.