Dominion (Sansom novel)
{{Short description|Novel by C. J. Sansom}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Dominion
| title_orig =
| translator =
| image = Dominion_book_cover.jpeg
| caption = First edition cover
| author = C. J. Sansom
| cover_artist =
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| subject = Political thriller
| genre = Alternate history
| publisher = Macmillan
| release_date = 25 October 2012
| media_type = Hardback
| pages = 608
| isbn = 978-0230744165
}}
Dominion is a 2012 alternate history novel by British author C. J. Sansom. It is a political thriller set in the early 1950s against the backdrop of a Britain that has become a satellite state of Nazi Germany.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/oct/19/sansom-dominion-nightmare-nazi-britain |title=My nightmare of a Nazi Britain |work=The Guardian |author=C. J. Sansom |date=19 October 2012 |access-date=8 April 2014}} The point of divergence from actual history is that Lord Halifax, rather than Winston Churchill, succeeded Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister in May 1940 leading to an armistice with Germany.
Awards
Dominion won the 2013 Sidewise Award for Alternate History, Long Form.
Controversy
Sansom's fictionalised portrayal of some historical figures such as Lord Beaverbrook, Oswald Mosley, Enoch Powell and Marie Stopes as members of a collaborationist puppet government caused some controversy. Allan Massie for The Daily Telegraph, however, defended the portrayal by arguing that "in the make-believe world of counter-factual history, a novelist is entitled to take a different line" and that having a younger version of Powell be as such was "not inherently improbable."{{cite news |title=Enoch Powell was no fascist. But it's not ridiculous for an author to imagine him in a pro-Nazi government |author=Allan Massie |author-link=Allan Massie |url=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/allanmassie/100067695/enoch-powell-was-no-fascist-but-its-not-ridiculous-for-an-author-to-imagine-him-in-a-pro-nazi-government/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130111210652/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/allanmassie/100067695/enoch-powell-was-no-fascist-but-its-not-ridiculous-for-an-author-to-imagine-him-in-a-pro-nazi-government/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 January 2013 |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=7 January 2013 |access-date=20 February 2013}}
A review in The Guardian conceded that some individuals are depicted in a light that is less than favourable in the fictional work: "Because they are dead, defamation is no legal risk, but there may still be moral jeopardy. Beyond the possible unhappiness of the descendants of Beaverbrook and Enoch Powell at their actions in this book, feminist and Scottish readers respectively may gasp at the suggestion that Marie Stopes is advising the Ministry of Health on eugenic sterilisation and that the Scots Nats have enthusiastically signed up to the Hitler agenda".{{Cite web |date=2012-12-06 |title=Dominion by CJ Sansom – review |url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/dec/06/dominion-cj-sansom-review |access-date=2022-11-18 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}
See also
References
{{Reflist|refs=
{{cite news |first=Steven H |last=Silver |author-link=Steven H Silver |work=SF Site |title=Sidewise Award Nominees |url=http://www.sfsite.com/news/2013/07/01/sidewise-award-nominees-3/ |date=1 July 2013 |access-date=5 September 2013 |archive-date=9 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190109011941/https://www.sfsite.com/news/2013/07/01/sidewise-award-nominees-3/ |url-status=dead }}
{{cite news |first=Mike |last=Glyer |work=File 770 |title=2013 Sidewise Awards |url=http://file770.com/?p=14355 |date=31 August 2013 |access-date=5 September 2013}}
}}
{{CJ Sansom Novels}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dominion (Sansom novel)}}
Category:Novels by C. J. Sansom
Category:Alternate Nazi Germany novels
Category:Crime and thriller fiction set in alternate histories
Category:Novels set in the 1950s
Category:Sidewise Award for Alternate History–winning works
Category:Cultural depictions of Oswald Mosley
Category:Macmillan Publishers books
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