which books are really good for understanding the history of what period? Ie, if someone wanted to innoculate himself with history painlessly, even pleasantly, what would be the best novels for what period, and how reliable? And you don’t have to get as technical as I do—it just happens to be kind of a borderline period.
I’ll start with:
BRONZE AGE GREECE:
Mary Renault: *The King Must Die.* Covers pre-Greeks (Minoan era) and proto-Greeks (early invasion of Minoan-held territory by northern tribes). [futzy explanation: there were 2 invasions from the north—more or less population drift, rather than line-up-at-the-border and charge type invasions: Wave A and Wave B. Wave A was the era of most Greek legends, and the Trojan War; it also includes the fall of Minoan power and the rise of Wave A Greeks: ie, the Theseus legend, which is the subject of this book. —
A footnote just for those of you who, out of pure curiosity, would like to know what Wave B was: Wave B is the Spartans and their ilk, different accent, same language, many similarities to the Romans, who arrived in Italy close to the same time. Wave B Greeks are not in this book.]
WWII Of course I’m biased, but Mare’s War is a good one. 🙂
But where is it set and when? What slice of history?
Tudor England, 1485-1603 Just finished C. J. Sansom’s “Dissolution”. Tudor England, specifically, the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII. Best murder mystery I’ve read in a long time.
Roman Britain —45 BC to 300 AD
and Civil War Britain 1642-1651– Rosemary Sutcliff.
1066 AD Also The Shield Ring for a little-known period of not-quite-yet-Norman-conquest in the Lake District.
1807-1814 Heyer’s The Spanish Bride for a “domestic” view of the Peninsular War of the Napoleonic wars.
Since that’s the fourth time and third person who’s mentioned Mary Renault’s books, I’m going to get a couple.
I have a different question you (CJ) might want to ask the blog readers. I’ll ask it over at Shejidan and see what turns up. Are there specific periods or events or cultures that interest fellow readers, and history or historical fiction that covers these periods? — Note to the blog readers: I don’t want to divert people off topic. This is only a suggestion for another topic question.
For instance, you (CJ) mention the early Greeks, and I start wondering about the proto-Greeks and the people (Minoans? Who?) that the early Greeks displaced. Ask about the Romans, and I wonder about the early Romans and Etruscans, and how and why the Etruscans were so thoroughly subsumed, when by evidence, they were advanced enough to have such art and writing and ideas that so influenced the Romans/Latins. (I get the idea it was mostly a peaceful merger or subsuming, rather than displacement or conquest.) — Or, in slightly more recent times, there is the progression from the Bretons, to conquest by the Anglo-Saxons, to the Norman Conquest, eventually leading to the merger of the Sasons and (Anglicized) Normans into the English. Yet those were each strong, advanced cultures. The British/Anglo period and the Saxon/Norman period both must be filled with stories of how and why they did what they did and how they transformed into their later cultural mishmash, becoming the English of Chaucer’s day and after. — Those just happen to be a few that most interest me. (Hmm, and reviewing, I realize I left out the Danish or Viking incursions that embedded some words and laws into Old and Middle English.)
I can explain about the Etruscans: they were somewhat subsumed. They took over Rome, and reigned as the Tarquin kings. The first one wasn’t too bad, but his son Tarquin junior was a beast. He raped the wife of a notable man, and she was of no small consequence, clan-wise, either. She called a meeting of her clan and her husband’s, told what had happened, and committed suicide on the spot, calling on both clans to avenge her. This is what the Romans said happened. These two clans roused the others, and they tossed the Tarquins out—tossed their furniture in the river Tiber, too, which they say is the foundation of Tiber Island. At any rate, the Etruscans kept trying to get back in power, and they and Rome came at loggerheads. Rome allied with the other Latin cities, and THAT alliance led to more entanglements. They took over and ruled the Etruscans, and then squabbled with the other Latini. To complicate matters, the Osci and Umbri (tribes) allied with the Greek colonists, seeking protection from the growing power of the Latini, and then were foolhardy enough to get into a fight. Sort of like walking into the WRONG bar. The Greeks got into it, and then the Italian tribes got into it—switching sides so fast on one occasion that they joined the army that was marching against them and attacked their allies of yesterday morning. You couldn’t tell the side anybody was on without an hourly update. In the upshot of all that, the Romans, who were so polyglot they were related to EVERYBODY, got involved with the Greeks, who had a toehold on Sicily, half of which was claimed by the Carthaginians, and things went to Hades from there. Unfortunately I am not aware of any over-arching novel that covers this chaotic period, but Rome had a tradition of welcoming fugitives from other states, so long as they kept Roman law, and humanitarian as this was, it did tend to bring them quarrels they had just as soon have avoided. They had ditched kings with the Tarquins, founded a democratic republic, while everybody else round about was warlords and chiefs, or dissident Greeks there to avoid their own governments; and the Carthaginians who were into baby-sacrifice and other things the ROmans found objectionable. So the culture clash was set—two trains headed at each other, and most Romans couldn’t even figure out how they’d ended up in charge of one train.
Welcoming fugitives, and bringing quarrels? It almost sounds like you are describing contemporary USA problems! 😉
300’s BC: Alexander the Great, Greece to Persia [Iran] I have loved most of Renault’s historical work. I’d add the novels that flank my personal favorite, The Persian Boy. The first is Fire From Heaven and the last is Funeral Games.
Oh! And here’s an odd one to add — The Fall and Decline of Practically Everybody by Will Cuppy. Not exactly historical fiction, but rather a set of humorous looks at different historical figures. They should assign this book in school. People would fall in love with history.
Greece: about 350 BCI think my favorite Renault is _Mask of Apollo_. It gives a fascinating look at how Greek theater may actually have worked, including lots of backstage going-on. And the main character’s appalled scandalization at seeing an Italian troupe acting “in their bare faces!” (no masks) is a wonderful bit of cultural interplay.
Napoleonic period Let me put a plug in, as many have, Georgette Heyer yet again. Her book, An Infamous Army, is set during Wellington’s Waterloo campaign and is stunning, also terrifying at points withthe vividness of the actual main battle. It is a (anti-) war book thinly disguised as a romance. She based much of the dialogue on Wellington’s memoirs.
Probably time for me to go back to Mary Renault too: I haven’t read her Greek stuff since I was 12 or 13 (in the early 70’s) and my cousin’s aunt recommended them both of us (we were hooked). She was into the then current Matriarchy/mother goddess concept of evolutionary history, so that her pre-Greeks were romantically pseudo-feminist, which is not too strongly supported archaeologically/anthropologically nowadays.
American Civil War, 1863 I think for readability, I have to go once again with The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara, about Gettysburg. After he died, his son Jeff took over the family franchise writing about the Civil War, but I find his writing more turgid.
I highly recommend the use of a map along with a book.
The Early Romans were involved with the very close neighbors first.
Sabines, Latins, Etruscans, from there you get a spiral outwards
in a bewildering variety of expansions. Kingdoms willed to them,
deliberate conquests, backing into wars, paranoid reactions etc.
like todays Americans they filled in their world map by sending
the troops this also added new words to the language.
BlueCatShip you seem to have left out the Danelaw period. At one
time it was most of central England. 1066 saw the Saxons beat the
Norse Harald Hardrada and return south to be defeated by William.
The theory was that each of the three had a legitimate claim to
the area.
*the Last Viking* books by Poul Anderson. I tend to think of Robert
Guiscard who sacked Rome as the last viking response to missionary
work in the North.
Matriarchy/mother Goddess existed in antiquity, but a modern view
is highly unlikely to be valid. The secrecy surrounding them in the
past (part of the control technique) and the active extermination
by the Abrahamic religions make this an area we may never get a
clear picture of.
One thing I found highly interesting was Volume one of *Decline of
the West* by Oswald Spengler. The second book was how his ideas
applied to history, the first one has some nice insights into how
to view different ages. Just dressing up in a period costume can’t
make a modern individual into one of the natives. What’s known as
culture shock is a good thing when reading about our wonderful past.
Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander series really gives you a taste of the nautical and political climate of the British during the Napoleonic Era.
now here’s an author you maybe haven’t read! Naomi Mitchison! I quote from Amazon review – “The Blood of the Martyrs” is a disciplined historical novel tracing the destruction of one cell of the early church. With a cast of slaves, ordinary Roman people, exiles and entertainers, it is thorough in its historical interpretation and in its determination to make the past accessible and readable. Written in 1938-9, the novel contains many symbolic parallels to the rise of European fascism in the 1930s and the desperate plight of persecuted minorities such as the Jews and the left-wing activists with whom Naomi Mitchison personally campaigned at the time. With the invasion of Britain a real possibility, she felt compelled to write a testament to the power of human solidarity which, even faced with death, can overcome the worst that human evil can achieve. The Blood of the Martyrs is the least autobiographical of Mitchison’s major works of fiction, yet, with its implicit credo, is her most passionately self-revealing. ”
I read her Corn King and Spring Princess years and years ago, possibly a highly imaginary novel about goings on around the Black sea about 100 BC – “mixture of history, folklore and magic, the novel spans the lifetime of Erif Der and Tarrik, the deities responsible for ensuring luck and prosperity for Marob, a mythical village on the shores of the Black Sea” which is fun, but I am not sure about any historical accuracy
Speaking of Theseus — I’m working my way through the plays of Euripides and last night I read Hippolytus. The plays are fascinating. And short. But I have to say that it’s really hard to like anyone very much, gods and humans alike.
Greece, 1600 bc Try My Shipmate Hercules,by Robert Graves…a scholarly respectable portrayal of Bronze Age mythic heroes.
now this is not a book, nor even fiction, but I thought a few of us would be interested in hellenistic wall paintings – http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/aug/22/hellenistic-wall-paintings-petra
Through the miraculous admin powers, I’ve added ‘period’ to the above posts, with thanks to you guys for running it down. If you read all these books you’d have a good grasp of several pivotal eras in human history.
Aztec Empire, 1517 Simon Levack’s Shadow of the Lords is a fine historical detective story in Tenochtitlan, at the time of Emperor Montezuma II. Focuses on daily life and craftsmen more than the famous warriours and priests.
China, around AD 666 Robert van Gulik’s Judge Dee mysteries, exemplified by The Chinese Lake Murders. Based on old chinese stories, using traditional chinese plot devices and with a historical protagonist.
Oh, Judge Dee! I haven’t read one of those in years!
And the other sounds very interesting.
Feudal Japan, around 1100 a.d.
PRINCE BANTAM: BEING THE ADVENTURES OF YOSHITSUNE THE BRAVE AND HIS FAITHFUL HENCHMAN GREAT BENKEI OF THE WESTERN PAGODA.
McNeer, May and Ward, Lynd
You might find this at the library. I found a few copies on Amazon and one $600 collector’s copy! (Maybe I should try to sell mine?) This was a book I found on our shelves as a kid and read several times. Yoshitsune was apparently a historical figure who has become the hero of various not-so-historical folk stories, a la Robin Hood.
Project Gutenberg in their daily update has a lot of historicals and memoirs.
Something for everyone. I was going to paste it here but 12 pages is far too
big of a chunk. The link is in the viewers left sidebar, then click on recent
ebooks. Eugene Sue has a whole series of historicals looking up from the bottom
of society.
*Salammbo* Gustave Flaubert, same one who wrote Madame Bovary, this is about
Carthage and its mercenaries. It was probably considered risque in the days
when gentlemen fainted at the sight of an ankle…GRIN
Thanks, CJ, for that explanation of the Etruscans and Romans, and of the Greeks. The more I learn about the Romans and Greeks, the more they seem this strange mix of “modern” and “barbarian.” — And then I hear the nightly news and wonder if we’ve made much progress, either in the US or elsewhere on the planet. (And no, I usppose if I’m honest, I have to admit I’m not much different than my feudal or barbarian ancestors, or any of those who thought themselves “civilized.)
I’ve ordered a couple of books, after the historical discussions. When I’ll actually get to read them is another question.
Off to watch an episode or two, and then find where I last left Bren, Banichi, and Jago in Foreigner 1. (My first full read-through. I’d thought I’d read the full book, but hadn’t. So the whole series is ahead.) If I’m still wakeful after that, some time for audio editing or else original writing.
I second the recommendation for:
Napoleonic Wars/Regency England
Patrick Precambrian’s Aubrey/Maturin series (aka Master and Commander)
Georgette Heyer’s Infamous Army and Spanish Bride
and I would add A Civil Contract. Most of her period romances are delightful and literate bits of froth — but A Civil Contract is an excellent novel by any standard, the story of an Army officer who enters a marriage of convenience–the historical events leading up to Waterloo form a pivotal part of the plot, and she gives her readers a glimpse of agricultural and domestic life of the period as well, and a hint of civil unrest.
C.S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower series
The period between WWI and WWII in England:
Dorothy Sayer’s murder mystery novels featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. Not much of the big historical events of the period, though they are there in the background, but a wonderful sense of the period. Thrones, Dominations by Sayers and Jill Paton Walsh is set in an English village during WWII with food shortages, air raid drills, and small village politics, scandals, and rumors.
Civil War
Killer Angels by Michael Sharra
Andersonville by MacKinley Kantor. Not sure I could call this one enjoyable fiction – it’s too grim. I read it in eighth grade and it was the first thing I ever read that make extensive use of stream of consciousness techniques. The entire book is written without a quotation mark. The characters move fluidly between past and present, reality and dream and hallucination, dialog and narration and action.
Ante-Bellum New Orleans
Barbara Hambly has a wonderful mystery series featuring Benjamin January, a free man of color, as her detective.
Ancient Rome
Barbara Hambly again – Search the Seven Hills (aka the Quirinal Hill Affair). A mystery set in the context of the Roman persecution of the early Church…
Lindsey Davis – the Marcus Didius Falco mysteries. The son of a Roman gentleman, pursues a career as an “informer,” Rome’s version of a private detective, much to the distress of his family.