How to Write History that People Want to Read

by Ann Curthoys, Ann McGrath

Acknowledgments Navigating History in the 21st century Which History to Tell? Who is your History for? Crying in the Archives History in 3 Visual, Oral and Material Sources How to Avoid Writer's Block Once upon a Beginnings and Endings Narrative, Plot, Action! Styling Pasts for Presents Character and Emotion Footnote Quotes and Notes Tough Editing and Revising The After Party Marketing, Celebrating and Reviews Notes Index

Genres: History, Writing, Nonfiction, Academia

263 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2009

Reviews

[Cgcang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Closest thing to therapy that I experienced this year.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not every section was relevant for me (at least not yet!) but it gave me lots of ideas and expectations for future writing. Very helpful and inspiring, with great tips/anecdotes/humour from the authors. I definitely recommend it to fellow history students and historians.

[Paul Cool · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Sadly, historical writing has quite a bad reputation. Newspaper reviewers will often praise a history book because it’s not like a history book. They will say it’s ‘as good as fiction’ and thus ‘a pleasure to read.’….” Ann Curthoys and Ann McGrath, How to Write History That People Want to Read (Palgrave MacMillan, NY, 2011 edition), p.2.

The number of “how to” books directed at the Ph.D. who desires to turn a doctoral thesis into a book suggests that many have gotten all the way through graduate school by writing only for their academic mentors. While university English departments offer courses in creative or literary nonfiction, some history students seem to have passed by these. The ability to structure and tell a true story well enough to hold a general audience’s attention to the book’s end too often takes second place to convincing the author’s professorial peers of the most arcane points in one’s argument.

Although I’ve had one history published by an academic press, I’d be the first to say that my writing, and my ability to hold the reader, can always stand improvement. Among the books that attempt to bridge the gap between the historian—academic or otherwise—who knows how to research a topic and the reader who wants a page-turning narrative to read, I’d recommend one I recently read by two Australian historians, Ann Curthoys and Ann McGrath, the authors quoted above.

The book is written as a primer for wannabe or still-learning published historians covering both historiography and the narrative art. The first chapters are fairly basic. They address such subjects as choosing a historical topic, identifying your target audience, knowing the archival, oral, and other sources, etc. The next chapters, providing writing advice (including narrative, plot, scenes, character, emotion, etc.). These were particularly useful to me.

[Cherubsmummy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a penchant for writing books. This one appealed to me for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it was written by a pair of authors who are Australian. I was interested to get an Australian perspective to the ressearch and writing process. I also picked up this book because it deals specifically with history writing, which seems to differ to contemporary novel writing, especially for those of us who are pedantic about facts in historical novels.

This book seems primarily directed at nonfiction writers, students of history and textbook writers. There is, however, plenty of useful information and advice for fiction writers, especially in the chapters about research and character development. The book uses an easy to read, conversational tone, and covers the entire writing process, from idea to publication. Interspersed with anecdotes from the authors' own experiences as well as those of other writers, it is an engaging read. I'd recommend this book to all writers of history, from students writing a thesis right through to novelists.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

So helpful! I’ve been trudging along on writing a book for 2 1/2 years but was getting hung up on the complexity of my outline. While reading this I finally began to see my book. I liked the practical advice and the easy readability. Some things could use a little more in-depth information. It’s a very lightweight book and the advice is fairly basic. That said, for first-timers it can really move you along in the right direction.

[Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The authors mention at least twice how grateful they were to have had a deadline that forced them to finish writing the book quickly. The results are very visible: Long stretches of it have been written to cover as many pages as quickly possible. There are many pages with unnecessary and vague prose, wasting the reader’s time by telling her for example that some libraries are beautiful buildings. The section on referencing is bad. At one point the authors write that even though the book is written by two women it can also be read by men. Here is one of their tips when you don’t know what to write in your introduction and conclusion: ‘Find a wonderful work of art. Stare at it, walk around it. Think about whether it can teach you something about your own composition.’ O.k.
It’s ironical how the authors emphasise the need for editing and acknowledging previous publications on the same topic. Many tips and ideas I’ve heard and read someplace else before.

However, in the middle, much to my surprise, there was suddenly a number of chapters in a row that were interesting and gave useful advice that I’d never seen anywhere else. Or they reminded me of things I’d forgotten. The "History-writing personality types" were quite original. I ended up taking down notes that I will refer to in the future. If the book had only consisted of those chapters I would given it more starts. The 3 starts are my average for a highly inconsistent book. If you decide to get it, don’t waste your time with some of the chapters and skim the pages quickly until you get to something that’s of use for you.

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a seriously good book. I would strongly recommend it for anyone who wants to write any type of history. I only wish it had been available when I wrote my PhD thesis: "John Douglas 1828-1904: The Uncompromising Liberal", available online at https://library-resources.cqu.edu.au/... (see I am taking their advice and publicising my work!).

I can't stress enough how good this book is; succinct, very readable and packed with useful tips and examples. If it had been available at the time, it would have significantly improved my thesis.

[Ann Kwiatkowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bravo!

So helpful! Bravo! Great resource to help me write my dissertation. I have highlighted many important paragraphs that will keep me focused. Really enjoyed this wonderful tool.

[Cd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not an historian but as an author of historical fiction, I wanted to read this book to learn how to handle better historic facts into a book.
This book is very clear and easy to read. I especially liked the footnotes/endnotes part because I never know how to deal with this aspect.

[Niamh Malin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfectly hit the spot! Exactly what it says on the tin, and is incredibly helpful. I will happily be returning to this as necessary. Only downside, the contents page could have been a little more thorough!

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent guide

[Stephanie Nguyen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book aims to be a how-to guide to write historical texts and books creatively/entertaining while still maintaining ethic research integrity. I picked up a few helpful tips here and there like in Chapters 11 "Tough Love: Editing and Revising." The book felt like a survey ranging from topics about target audience, type of historical writing, archival research, avoiding writer's block and writing style/mechanics. Because the authors wanted to address many topics, the downside was unevenness in the amount of information chapter by chapter. For example, the authors plotted on and on in chapter 2 about every single type of target audience, while Chapter 5, about setting up a writing routine, felt light on advice. The authors assumed that readers had a basic level of historical research but the tips they shared did not have any actionable items. Chapter 7 "Narrative, Plot, Action," was a good example; they offered different examples of suspenseful historical writing but they did not address the mechanics (or even offer additional style resources) on how to actually practice suspenseful writing for your own work. The book fell flat for me, and the writing, although direct, was dry for me.

[Maxy.kai · Rating 4 out of 5]

pretty great- one i'll definitely come back to when i start writing

[Rebecca Hilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to start writing. Thank you!