Manipulating the Future through the Past

[peterbradford]

I'm trying to find a book I read decades ago in which a group of people discover that for years the government has been going back into the past and arranging that certain events--and specifically, people--do happen. For example, I believe in "reality" Adolf Hitler died well before reaching adulthood; similarly Gengis Khan. In the "present" that the government has created, they and others grow to adulthood and wreak the havoc that we now know to be fact. As a by-product, life is tougher, harder and people more belligerent than they would otherwise have been.
The group succeeds in overthrowing the government and reversing the process…the rest of the story I'll not reveal.
Ideas anyone?

[PaulMmn]

Has strong overtones of Asimov's "The End of Eternity."
--Paul E Musselman

[Vertigo]

I wondered about that Paul, about seems like there's too many things that don't fit. I don't seem to recall anything about Hitler in it for example. Also the "authorities" in that book were creating (or trying to create) a utopian existence rather than a tougher harder one.

[zaltys13]

It sounds like "lightning" by Dean R Koontz, give or take a few of the plot details.

I am very unsure though.


Might as well give us the details, peterbradford, maybe a better chance of success then!

[reiver33]

I'm afraid that book no longer exists, and never did...

[Metryq]

+1 Reiver33

[High Eight]

Originally Posted by peterbradford

I'm trying to find a book I read decades ago in which a group of people discover that for years the government has been going back into the past and arranging that certain events--and specifically, people--do happen. For example, I believe in "reality" Adolf Hitler died well before reaching adulthood; similarly Gengis Khan. In the "present" that the government has created, they and others grow to adulthood and wreak the havoc that we now know to be fact. As a by-product, life is tougher, harder and people more belligerent than they would otherwise have been.
The group succeeds in overthrowing the government and reversing the process…the rest of the story I'll not reveal.
Ideas anyone?

Silverberg's Up The Line?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_the_Line

[thetruecipher]

Originally Posted by reiver33

I'm afraid that book no longer exists, and never did...

Lightning?

Publisher: Berkley
Number Of Pages: 368
Publication Date: 1989-05-01
ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0425115801
ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780425115800

[Dave]

I'm now reading this because of this thread.

[Dave]

Hmmm! I liked the book but it was odd - Dean Koontz himself acknowledges the problems he had getting it published - since the first quarter takes place during the lead character's childhood, while the rest is cross-genre in science fiction, romance and thriller, and that suspense and humour are not supposed to mix.

I'd rather they were not Nazis. Nazis are much too over-used.

Anyway the real reason for this post was to note the similarity with the film T2: Terminator - Judgement Day. Laura and Chris Shane felt an awful lot like Sarah and John Connor to me!

[peterbradford]

Originally Posted by PaulMmn

Has strong overtones of Asimov's "The End of Eternity."
--Paul E Musselman

That's not it, Paul. But looking at the plot I certainly think "The End of Eternity" needs a re-read!

[peterbradford]

Originally Posted by zaltys13

It sounds like "lightning" by Dean R Koontz, give or take a few of the plot details.

I am very unsure though.


Might as well give us the details, peterbradford, maybe a better chance of success then!

No, my story pre-dates Koontz by at least a quarter-century. Probably early 60s.

[peterbradford]

[QUOTE=High Eight;1582423]Silverberg's Up The Line?



Nope! Sorry.

[peterbradford]

OK, here's more detail on the plot:

*Spoiler Alert*

As I mentioned, A group of "do-gooders" find that for years the government has been going back into the past and arranging that certain events--and specifically, people--do happen. For example, I believe in "reality" Adolf Hitler died well before reaching adulthood; similarly Gengis Khan. In the "present" that the government has created, they and others grow to adulthood and wreak the havoc that we now know to be fact. As a by-product, life is tougher, harder and people more belligerent than they would otherwise have been. The group succeeds in overthrowing the government and killing-off the "miscreants" and sets about reversing the process, restoring our world to its original peaceful, placid place, inhabited by people full of love and bearing no malice....then they discover an approaching alien armada, and we Earthlings roll-over and are unable to resist the attack. The former government had detected the fleet much earlier and THAT was the reason they had worked so hard to make the world the way it was--full of us toughies and meanies :-) Nice plot, I thought.

I believe it was a Short Story or Novella, and published no later than the 60s.