Begin the World Over (Emergent Strategy Series, 5)

There has recently been a surge of interest in the people left behind by the American Revolution. Hamilton may not have begun it, but it certainly brought the subject firmly into the public eye and probably paved the way for the LGBT- and POC-led revival of 1776. But those works still deal with the revolution as it was. What if it had gone further? What if it had been truly revolutionary?

Kung Li Sun presents this possibility in a counterfactual novel inspired by the uprisings of enslaved people in the supposed “land of the free.” Filled with unforgettable characters, Begin the World Over is both fantastic and fascinating. It is one of the most welcome things: a book grounded in historical detail that does not become a dry recounting of events. It brims with the possibility of what might have been rather than merely reminding us of what was.

Some may say the author tries too hard to include diversity in the characters, but this argument takes a narrow view of history that the book rightly explodes. History has always had more to it than most have wanted to see. Kung Li Sun does an excellent job embracing that.