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/lit/ - Literature

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617500 No.617500 [Reply] [Original]

most of the history books i have are classroom style textbooks

are there any good history books out there that are written as a story? looking for places to start.

>> No.617502

history books written as a story?

you mean historical fiction, i guess.

but there are some decent, well written history books out there that are not textbooks.
they aren't written as a story as well, though.

>> No.617505

what are some good history books then?

l

>> No.617509

is there such a thing as historical nonfiction?

>> No.617515

op here,

i just finished the LOTR books and thought to myself, wow - wouldnt it be cool if this was real history stuff and i actually learned something?

are there any books like that? history, but written as non-fiction i guess. with accurate characters\times\places

>> No.617517

Thomas Carlyle- The French Revolution

>> No.617532

>>617515
> are there any books like that? history, but written as non-fiction i guess. with accurate characters\times\places
The very best fiction writers fulfill that requirement. Of course, unless they're writing about a specific historical character the books very rarely go as in-depth as non-fiction, i.e. they may be meticulously accurate but not necessarily so concerned with the events than they are of their own creations intervowen into history.

>> No.617539

>>617532
Fiction (Latin: fictum, "created") is a branch of literature which deals, in part or in whole, with temporally contrafactual events (events that are not true at the time of writing)

>History: his·to·ry [ hístəree ]
what has happened: the past events of a period in time or in the life or development of a people, an institution, or a place
study of past events: the branch of knowledge that records and analyzes past events
record of events: a chronological account of past events of a period or in the life or development of a people, an institution, or a place

>> No.617540

try a brief history in time- stephen hawking

>> No.617556

>>617539
If we start quoting definitions:

"Historical fiction is fiction that often portrays fictional accounts or dramatization of historical figures or events. Writers of stories in this genre, while penning fiction, attempt to capture the spirit, manners, and social conditions of the persons or time(s) presented in the story, with due attention paid to period detail and fidelity."

I do not like your strict line of difference because it begs questions like is historical fiction by definition inaccurate (I don't think so), is an accurately researched book about a historical character by definition non-fiction (not necessarily)?

>> No.617561

>>617500
>are there any good history books out there that are written as a story?

No. Not even good biography written by historians reads as "a story." A story is a genre. Historical writing is a genre. Are there any good introspective fictions about the mind that are written in the mode of historical writing? No.

>> No.617574

Anything by John Reed. Especially Ten days that shook the World :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Days_that_Shook_the_World

It's an accurate and vivid depiction of the October Revolution from within. Since the author was an american journalist, everyone spoke very freely with him. The book was later banned by Stalin and defended by Orwell. Definitively different from classroom history.

>> No.619006

>>617540
sry im looking for more of an adventure, that is a true story

>> No.619049

>>617500
The War with Hannibal - Livy

is written just like a story. because that's how Roman historians roll.

>> No.619052

>>619006
Then read Fantasy Books or something.

>> No.619098

>>619052
but they are fantasy, not real

>> No.619289
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619289

Probably not what you're looking for but Guns, Germs and Steel is an easy to read History book.

>> No.619294

>>619289

With very poor, unverified science and a heavy anti-west anti-white bias.

>> No.619311

Last Days of The Incas

>> No.619314

>>619294

It's been 5 or 6 years since I read it. I agree that the author had this weird thing where he thought that people living in tribes were better off than people living in modern cities. I remember being annoyed by what felt like preaching at times.

As far as "very poor, unverified science" most of the book was textbook history, and I think he gave enough disclaimers whenever he went into new territory that it didn't feel like he was trying to pass off new ideas as fact.

>> No.619349

>>619314
>people living in tribes were better off than people living in modern cities
But that's true.

>> No.619352

>>619098
Historians argue amongst themselves about how to write history that is "real". None of them advocate writing "adventures". I suggest you go borrow some recent boy's own war biography from the library. It has the "tang" of reality, but none of the calories of painstaking research, synthesis, generalisation and attempts to write it "as it really was."

>> No.619353

>>619349

African cities don't count

>> No.619355

>>619349
Only true until the antibiotic revolution in the advanced west.

>> No.619362

I, Claudius and Claudius the God by Robert Graves.

>> No.619366

>>619362
Graves is more like a real historian gone speculative, and is probably too difficult. Graves is probably a good example of "hard" alternate history / historical fiction.

Flashman perhaps?

Aubrey Maturin is probably too "hard" as well. What's the silly British sea adventure...?

Ahh the Hornblower novels probably suit OP's requirements.

>> No.619380

>>619314

I don't think it's true, I'd rather live to 80 years old than 40
assuming you actually make it past 5 years old which is about 50/50 in a place like that.

>> No.619386

"Culloden" by John Prebble is a good example. Written as a story, but based on a quite ridiculous depth of research.

I had to analyse it for a practising history module last year, came down really hard against the guy for bad referencing, trivia and using his imagination, but I thought it was a great book.

Also try "The Pursuit of Glory" by Tim Blanning.

>> No.619391

>>619349
Thomas Hobbes shat all over your romanticised noble-savage bullshit three hundred and fifty-nine years ago. He was right then and still is.

>> No.619392

If you're interested in China, I recommend anything by Jonathan Spence, particularly God's Chinese Son.

>> No.619406

Books by James Reston Jr fit this category
Dogs of God
Warriors of God
The Last Apocalypse

>> No.619408

Skeletons on the Zahara
No Surrender: My Thirty Year War
Kon-Tiki

>> No.619413

>>619366
Sharpe's rifles?

>> No.619419

>>619294
I dont know where people get this anti-white, anti-west bias thing. I felt the entire thing was pretty damn objective and detached. When Europe conquered the world they did some terrible things. Every culture does terrible things, and they are mentioned, but the focus is on why was Europe able to beat these other cultures? So in answering it it analyzes what they actually physically did to win along with how they were able to accomplish this. For example showing how Cortes royally fucked up the Aztecs, although the Aztecs weren't nice people in the least themselves. We hear all the terrible shit Cortes did with his armor and guns, and what havoc the diseases they brought with them did. Then we analyze why they had guns and steel and germs and the other side didn't. Its all handled very calmly. Honestly i think people just read the summary of "Why did white society get more advanced when were all actually the same intelligence?" and they think "WHITE GUILT TRYING TO SHOW HOW TERRIBLE WE ARE". I do not understand this logic.

>> No.619738

/lit/ I am disappoint.

OP asks for adventurous historical literature, and no one mentions:

Herodotus: The Histories
Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian War
Livy: Hannibal's War (actually, all of Livy, namely "From the Founding of the City")
Xenophon: Anabasis


If that's all too ancient for you, this i assure you is one of the best history books ever written that is also damn exciting:

A Short History of Byzantium, by John Julius Norwich.

Great fucking read, along with everything listed in my post.

>> No.620601

thank you.

>> No.621890

>>619738
Definitely Norwich. Also Asimov.

>> No.621905

The Sun has set on the white man

>> No.621906

Yea, an Outline of History by H.G. Wells

>> No.622388

Napoleon's Russian Campaign, Segur (Townsend tr.)
Travels in Persia 1673-1677, Chardin.

>> No.622393

Figes - Natasha´s Dance

Sorry for my shitty apostrophe up there, Swiss keyboard.

>> No.622410

I remember that 1776 was a book like op wants, but since it was required reading for my history course I never finished it. :/

>> No.623321

>>621906
Mmm, not quite adventurey, though.

>> No.625540
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625540

An Army at Dawn by Rick Atkinson is really good. It goes over the history of WWII that isn't dry. There are three volumes (2 are out so far)

>> No.625546

The Gulag Archipelago might fit your criteria. If not, read it anyway. It quite literally sent shivers down my spine.