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The Difference Engine
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<p><i>The Difference Engine</i> (1990) is an <a href="/facts/Alternative_history/nD37s7ot">alternative history</a> novel by <a href="/facts/William_Gibson/yyVXYSfb">William Gibson</a> and <a href="/facts/Bruce_Sterling/cTrHhRnn">Bruce Sterling</a>.[<i>better source needed</i>] It has been described as an early work of the <a href="/facts/Steampunk/fdTN4sDB">steampunk</a> genre,[<i>better source needed</i>] and is regarded as having helped to establish that genre's conventions.[<i>not verified in body</i>] </p><p>It posits a <a href="/facts/Victorian_era/HQxGp7wh">Victorian-era</a> <a href="/facts/United_Kingdom_of_Great_Britain_and_Ireland/yw0GUkge">Britain</a> in which great technological and social change has occurred after the mechanical <a href="/facts/Computers/SQe1aK05">computers</a> of <a href="/facts/Charles_Babbage/T3jklQcd">Charles Babbage</a> make widespread impact, there and globally, resulting in <a href="/facts/History/bSKgXaCA">historical</a> individuals taking on markedly different roles (<a href="/facts/Lord_Byron/sajTBMxU">Lord Byron</a> instead surviving the <a href="/facts/Greek_War_of_Independence/bIXHUpJ7">Greek War of Independence</a> to lead Britain, the late <a href="/facts/Prime_Minister_of_the_United_Kingdom/Uf40UlBb">Prime Minister</a> <a href="/facts/Benjamin_Disraeli/86v3Qocw">Benjamin Disraeli</a> instead becoming a tabloid writer, etc.), and European and American continents of markedly different political dispositions (e.g., the <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a> being, rather, several competing nations). Behind the manifest progress, <i>Kirkus</i> writes, "20th-century crises brew", providing context for a "cops-and-robbers plot". </p><p>The novel received nominations for several major science fiction awards in the years following its publication, and has been the subject of continuing scholarly interest for its approach to history and particular historical characters, and for its relationship to the <a href="/facts/Benjamin_Disraeli/86v3Qocw">Disraeli</a> novel, <a href="/facts/Sybil_(novel)/1IItfnYD"><i>Sybil</i></a>. </p>