The Mirage (novel)
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| Author | Matt Ruff |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Alternate history |
| Publisher | Harper |
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Publication date
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February 7, 2012 |
| Pages | 432 pp |
| ISBN | |
The Mirage is an alternate history novel by Matt Ruff, published in 2012 by Harper.
The idea for The Mirage came when Matt Ruff was asked by a TV producer, who was a fan of his novel Bad Monkeys, whether he had an idea for a TV series. In an interview, Matt Ruff said "I’d been wanting to write something about the September 11 attacks and the War on Terror that would offer an unusual perspective while still being an engaging story, and I hit on this idea of setting a thriller in a world where the U.S. and the Middle East had traded places. That concept was a little too radical for television, so I decided to do it as a novel."
The Mirage is set in an alternate history version of the year 2009. Much of the back-story is revealed in excerpts from the Library of Alexandria, this world's version of funded by Muammar Gaddafi. A politically united Arabia (analogous to the real Arab League), declared independence from the Ottoman Empire at the end of the 19th century and established itself as the United Arab States. Throughout the 20th century, Arabia grew to occupy most of the Middle East and North Africa, and northern East Africa. Arabia intervened decisively in World War II on the Allied side, culminating in Adolf Hitler's beheading at Nuremberg in 1946. The world's only Jewish state was afterwards established in northeast Germany, with its capital in Berlin.
North America, meanwhile, is divided among several feuding third-world nations. The largest, the Christian States of America (CSA), comprises 17 states along the East Coast, and is under the dictatorial rule of an aging Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1990, the Kingdom of Mississippi is annexed, becoming the 18th state. The Evangelical Republic of Texas includes Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and the Mexican state of Coahuila, and is allied with the United Arab States. A Rocky Mountain nation exists, but is split up among small tribal factions. The Pentecostal Gilead Heartland includes Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, and Tennessee. A Mormon nation also exists, although it is based in Missouri rather than Utah. In 1990, an attempt by the CSA to annex the Kingdom of Louisiana, fueled by Lyndon Johnson's desire to claim Texas, resulted in the Mexican Gulf War.
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