Historical fiction for history buffs

[pscot]

Last edited Mon Jan 23, 2012, 12:29 PM - Edit history (1)

When I was a kid, the adventures of Dartagnan, Rob Roy and Johnny Tremaine picqued my interest in history. I've subsequently read a lot of "serious" history, but no historian gets any closer to King Leopold's Congo than Joseph Conrad does in Heart of Darkness. Tacitus is wonderful, but Robert Graves brought the Empire to life for millions of lay readers. In that spirit I'd like to recommend Colleen McCullough's series on the Roman republic. I've read the first two, The First Man in Rome and The Grass Crown, which explore the lives of Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla. They run to 1000 pages each and are crammed with detail about the political machinations of Rome's ruling orders. This period marks the end of the Republic' from the Jugurthine wars to the death of Julius Caesar, and as one reads, it's tempting to see parallels with the decay of our own Republic, though we have yet to see our politicians putting one anothers head on pikes. These are novels, so Ms. McCullough's characterization are to be taken with a grain of salt, but as way to pass the long winter evenings they beat the pants off Jerseylicious and Real Housewives of Atlanta. If you find Sallust a bit tedious, give these a try.

[FSogol]

1. Thanks for the tip.

Have you read Conrad's other works, such as "Lord Jim?"

[pscot]

3. Yes

He's one of my long-time favorites.

[FSogol]

4. Same here. n/t

[Scuba]

2. My favorite genre, learning and being entertained at once....

James Michener
WEB Griffin
Ken Follett


Thanks for the suggestions.

[Odin2005]

5. I read McCullough's Rome books last summer, loved them.

I love the interesting educated guesses she did to flesh out the historical figures (like portraying Octavian as a asthmatic, Antony as a sociopath, Pompey as a narcissist, Marius losing his sanity before his death, Cato as a puritanical asshole with autistic tendencies, and Sulla having major entitlement issues).

I love her portrayal of Caesar as the human being he was, albeit a extremely brilliant one.

The similarity between then and now is scary. The reactionary "Boni" faction reminds me of the Teabaggers, especially Cato and Bibulus.