The Alteration

In The Alteration, Kingsley Amis imagines an alternate history in which the Protestant Reformation never occurred. As a result, Henry VIII never ascends to the throne, Martin Luther becomes a pope, and 1970s Britain is governed by an all-powerful Roman Catholic Church. The set-up gives Amis an opportunity to incorporate crude anti-religious commentary on what Western society would look like under the authoritarian control of the church.