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What book gave you the best insight into another time?
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C.P.
(last edited Sep 17, 2018 05:57PM)
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Aug 04, 2018 06:33PM
The Moon in the Palace and The Empress of Bright Moon, by Weina Dai Randel. I've always been fascinated by ancient China (so much history!), and I'd heard of Empress Wu, but this two-part series really opened up the society for me.
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I agree with Ride the Wind by Lucia St. Clair Robson for the story of Quanah Parkers mother, Cynthia Ann. I also recommend Walk In My Soul by the same author for the story of the Cherokee, the Trail of Tears, &young Sam Houston.
Thank you, Nancy, for this remarkable insight into your family history. I really loved reading it.Here is a book that gave me deeper insight into the Spanish flu pandemic of the 19-teens, by Susan Meissner. I had only a passing knowledge of this time in history. My eyes were opened. You are admitted into the lives of the members of the Bright family who moves to Philadelphia in 1918 just in time for this virulent pandemic. Also, it brings in the effects of WWI on the family, so there were two horrid world-wide impacts occurring at the same time. See my review for more details. No spoilers there.
Sydney - thank you for writing to me.I am looking forward to reading Susan Meissner’s new book, As Bright as Heaven. It was my lucky day when I chanced upon her book, the Fall of Marigolds, which was one of my top ten books that year. I have read several of her other titles and really enjoyed them.
For me, there were two:The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
and
New York: The Novel by Edward Rutherfurd
These two books also happen to be two of the best books I have ever read....and I am picky. Both were extremely well-written, engaging, and historically accurate. This is also the kind of history you are not likely to have learned in school. The first book is the story of the Great Migration, and tracks a few different families from different regions of the country. It is the story of black families moving north and finding new lives and new struggles and new relationships.
The second book is the story of the founding of New York City. It is fascinating. As a native New Yorker, I learned so much that they never even broached in school!!
Those sound like interesting books, Courtney! I'll put them on my list. Thanks for recommending them.
Courtney wrote: "For me, there were two:The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
andRusska: The Novel of Russia
New York: The Novel by Edward Rutherfurd
These two books also happen to be two of the best books I have ever read....and..."
New York by Rutherford was very good. If you liked New York you might like his other books as well like Sarum: The Novel of England, Russka: The Novel of Russia and London.
Nancy from NJ wrote: "Sydney - thank you for writing to me.I am looking forward to reading Susan Meissner’s new book, As Bright as Heaven. It was my lucky day when I chanced upon her book, the Fall of Marigolds, which..."
Good to hear. I'm certainly adding Susan Meissner to my reading list. Thanks for the feedback.
There are too many to name but a recent one I read was the House By the Lake, one house, five families and a Hundred Years of German History by Thomas Harding. The House by the Lake: A Story of Germany
Linda wrote: "I agree with Ride the Wind by Lucia St. Clair Robson for the story of Quanah Parkers mother, Cynthia Ann. I also recommend Walk In My Soul by the same author for the story of the Cherokee, the Trai..." Ride the Wind is one of my favorites too. I've read it twice. :)
Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "I didn't know that Hitler took over France so that was a new fact for me. It was so tragic to learn her brother was still in the cabinet. :("I wonder if you should maybe put this in spoilers, in case anyone who hasn't read the book reads this thread?
Courtney wrote: "For me, there were two:The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
and
New York: The Novel by Edward Rutherfurd
These two books also happen to be two of the best books I have ever read....and..."
I've been wanting to read "The Warmth of Other Suns" forever, it seems like. It will now be the next book I read. Thanks!
Kristy Cambron is a great writer. I really enjoyed The Hidden Masterpiece Collection: The Butterfly and the Violin, A Sparrow in Terezin|25561613]. These are dual stories. There is a story in the present and the past at the same time.I like to see what books you guys have read. It is giving me a lot of ideas!! My to read list is growing. Lol
The question of which book gave you the most insight is really difficult for me. So many come to mind -- Hawaii, The Covenant, Trinity, Pillars of the Earth, While Six Million Died and on and on. I guess if I had to pick one I would go with The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye.
There are obvious classics like "The Grapes of Wrath," but I'll suggest A. B. Guthrie Jr.," two novels "The Big Sky" and "The Way West," the first about mountain men and the second about a wagon train reaching Oregon.
A Break with Charity: A Story about the Salem Witch Trials and The Secret of Sarah Revere, both by Ann Rinaldi.
I would say The Wolf and the Watchman, which is very far from the romanticized versions you often read about life in the 18th century.Read my review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
In terms of getting a sense of time and place you can't beat the Flashman books by George McDonald Fraser - masterful storytelling and so well researched, although some will find the stories unsettling. Flashman was an arch cad.Anything by Bernard Cornwell gives great insight into the relevant milieux - especially the Sharpe series.
Others have mentioned the Wolf Hall trilogy, which is outstanding, but one not yet mentioned is Shogun by James Clavell. Brilliant portrayal of the very alien world which was feudal Japan.
Adrian Deans, I agree about Sharpe’s, although I still haven’t read Flashman. Also, the Brigadier Gerard stories by Doyle, and Hornblower by C.S. Forester were the precursors to Flashman and Sharpe’s (respectively, since Gerard is more comedic, and from my understanding, Hornblower is more serious). Again though, I’ve only read Gerard.
Bruce wrote: "Adrian Deans, I agree about Sharpe’s, although I still haven’t read Flashman. Also, the Brigadier Gerard stories by Doyle, and Hornblower by C.S. Forester were the precursors to Flashman and Sharpe..."Flashman was hysterically politically incorrect! Could not be written today, or at least written and published.
Philippa Gregory's "The Other Boleyn Girl" was the first book that helped me appreciate the fear that pervaded Henry VIII's England. I certainly knew Tudor history, but that book made me realize what a terrifying time it must have been. Later on I read that some enormous number of people were executed during his reign (maybe 60,000??). To bring it to scale with today's population in England, an equivalent number would be about a million.
Phillipa Gregory's The Taming of the Queen gives really good insight into the last years of Henry VIII's reign and especially into the religious ferment of the time. It was dangerous to be a Protestant one day and dangerous to the a Catholic the next. Also a really good portrayal of what it's like for a country to live under a madman who has almost absolute power.
Eileen wrote: "Flashman was hysterically politically incorrect! Could not be written today, or at least written and published."Yep, no way would Flashman be published these days - which is tragic when you think about it. We sanitise the past and therefore forget it and can no longer learn from it.
Down the Common by Ann Baer. An excellent book detailing a year in the life of a village woman in medieval England. It really gives you a good feel of what it must have been like to live in that time and place.
When I was younger, I learned a lot from books by James A. Michener , for instance, The Source, Centennial, Hawaii, and The Covenant. That last one makes it clear how the ridiculous apartheid system got set up.
I learned a lot of French history (not always accurate) from The Three Musketeers and other books by Dumas. I learned about the wars between cousins for control of England from the Brother Cadfael mystery series by Ellis Peters.
From reading Victorian and regency novels, I know a fair number of words related to carriages, clothing, and household items that are little know today but are useful when playing Scrabble!
I just finished Down the Common: A Year in the Life of a Medieval Woman. It describes a year in the life of a medieval woman very vividly. So many books set in that era are about queens, and important women are definitely generally more interesting. But I like that this book was about a common woman. That gives you more of a sense of how ordinary people lived.
The Women With Silver Wings by Katherine Sharp Landdeck and The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
Basically any book by Erik Larson takes you back in time and makes you feel like a spectator.The book about the Chicago World's Fair and a ghastly string of murders transports one back to 1890's America.
"The Prophet's Wife" by Libbie Grant is a fascinating look at the early history of the Mormon church, with details on the magical lore and divinatory practices used by it's founder and that were fairly common in the mid-1800s.
The Journeyman, I can't imagine how long the author studied for that book!!
Seeing the comments from 2018 about the Maisie Dobbs series and I'm reminded of when the news said residents in Ukraine were headed to the subways for safety and I just burst into tears. Jacqueline Winspear does such an incredible job conveying the impact of war in those books.
I just got this book and am so excited to start reading!Jules wrote: ""The Prophet's Wife" by Libbie Grant is a fascinating look at the early history of the Mormon church, with details on the magical lore and divinatory practices used by it's founder and that were fa..."
The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate. This is set in 1862 after the Civil War. Imagine a time with no computers, no internet, no GPS. How did you search for anybody? For the best explanation here is a verbatim quote about the book. "After the Emancipation Proclamation of 1862 and the eventual adoption of the 13th Amendment prohibiting slavery, between 3.5 and 3.9 million freed slaves began to search for their loved ones. Their method of “people-finding” was to place an advertisement for “Lost Friends” in the Southwestern Christian Advocate and have those letters read by pastors in churches all over the South." This book uses actual newspaper articles from the time to tell this story.
For me, many books fall into this category. Among them are the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell. Great books, but I'm glad I did not live in England during the Napoleonic Era.
Antonin wrote: "For me, many books fall into this category. Among them are the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell. Great books, but I'm glad I did not live in England during the Napoleonic Era."Living in France or Spain might have been significantly worse...
But yes, the Sharpe series is outstanding for transporting the reader into those times.
I am a Cornwell fan. I loved the Sharpe series and he does an excellent job of evoking the Napoleonic period. For exceptionally evocative writing, I would cite Hilary Mantel.
The painter of souls by Philip Kazan. Amazing retelling of life as a painter in renaissance Italy.
Lizet wrote: "Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo."He was more or less writing about his own times... which feels like cheating.
Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose-taken from Lewis and Clark's journals and added by Ambrose's brilliant writing which has you journeying with these early explorers up the mighty Mississippi.
Barbara wrote: "Charlie Chaplin was reputed to have said, "“There are more valid facts and details in works of art than there are in history books." I have learned a great deal about various historical time period..."Yeah, seeing a period thorugh a character's eyes really helps get a sense of the time and place. I loved The Rose Code for this. It gave a sense of what it might have been like to work at Blechley in the war.
I've always enjoyed the minutiae when an author describes the feeling of living in another era. What a character is eating, how it was prepared, what clothes they wore and the fabrics of which they were made, customs, habits, etc. Any detail to put you in that time and place is always helpful. Once you feel as though you're there, you're more invested in the story and the arc of a character can take on its full significance.
Could you please let me know Historical Non-Fiction and Historical Fiction books that you recommend that follow the following criteria? (1) You absolutely loved it & gave it 5 *
(2) You learned something about some historical facts that you didn't know before when you read it
(3) It has very little romance, (maybe attraction to someone but no sex scenes)
(4) It takes place any time after 1750-present day -meaning not interested in something that occurred before 1750.
Thank you so much.
KPETE wrote: "Could you please let me know Historical Non-Fiction and Historical Fiction books that you recommend that follow the following criteria? (1) You absolutely loved it & gave it 5 *
(2) You learned so..."
Just about anything by Kate Quinn or Kristin Hannah. Start with Quinn's The Huntress and The Diamond Eye if you haven't read them. Not before 1750 though. Sorry.
Thank you! I have read The Huntress and thought it was great but I haven't read The Diamond Eye so I will. I am not interested in anything before 1750-just everything from 1750-2022!!
Push Not the RiverKPETE wrote: "Thank you! I have read The Huntress and thought it was great but I haven't read The Diamond Eye so I will. I am not interested in anything before 1750-just everything from 1750-2022!!"James Conroyd Martin's Poland Trilogy takes place during the Napoleonic era in Poland. It starts with "Push Not the River" Push Not the River. I found it very compelling - once I started the first, I had to read the other two as soon as it was finished.
And another Kate Quinn: The Alice Network.
Nancy from NJ wrote: "I am also Jewish and my father cane to the US from Russia with his 4 siblings. They left in 1910 and it is unlikely that any of his family who was left survived the pogroms or WWII. My father when ..."If you haven't read Two Brothers by Ben Elton you might want to read it: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
KPETE wrote: "Could you please let me know Historical Non-Fiction and Historical Fiction books that you recommend that follow the following criteria? (1) You absolutely loved it & gave it 5 *
(2) You learned so..."
Here's I few...I have more
And All the Saints
Scarface and the Untouchable: Al Capone, Eliot Ness, and the Battle for Chicago
The Lunatic Fringe: A Novel Wherein Theodore Roosevelt Meets the Pink Angel
The Sherlockian
Empire of Deception: The Incredible Story of a Master Swindler Who Seduced a City and Captivated the Nation
20 Minutes On The Tube (present day)
Joan wrote: "If you haven't read Two Brothers by Ben Elton you might want to read it: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1..."Excellent novel. I lent it to my mother who, to my surprise, read it - it's not usually her thing. As she said: "I had no idea how badly the ordinary German people suffered throughout the entire Nazi regime. I'd never even thought about it."
Historical Fictionistas
Books mentioned in this topic
Booth (other topics)Dust Child (other topics)
The Mountains Sing (other topics)
The Source (other topics)
Empire of Deception: The Incredible Story of a Master Swindler Who Seduced a City and Captivated the Nation (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Bernard Cornwell (other topics)C.S. Harris (other topics)
Iona Whishaw (other topics)
C.J. Sansom (other topics)
Karen Joy Fowler (other topics)
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