Curious Notions is an alternate history novel by Harry Turtledove.[1] It is a part of the Crosstime Traffic series. In Curious Notions, the Central Powers won World War I prior to the United States entering the war. Subsequently, the German Empire invaded and conquered the United States in the 1950s. The story is set 150 years later, in German-occupied San Francisco. The main plot deals with time travelers from our universe establishing an electronics shop in San Francisco, coming under the suspicion of both the German authorities and the Tongs while preventing the Germans from duplicating the time travel technology.
Since Germany never persecuted the Jewish people of their country, they discovered the atomic bomb and gain further dominance. The United States was largely ignorant of the power of these bombs and as a result lost World War III when it broke out in 1956. It resulted in the nuclear destruction of most major cities in the United States. San Francisco, the setting, is intact because the United States was able to shoot some of the German bombers down before they could reach the city.
A side effect of the US being dominated by Germany is soccer becoming the most popular spectator sport in the American society, largely displacing baseball.
Literary significance and reception
Roland J. Green reviewing for Booklist said that a "well-constructed world, superior characterization, and some serious analysis of the ethics of cross-time travel all make the yarn a winner."[2]