Favourite historical novelists?

[KeithD]

The first author who sprang to my mind was Barbara Tuchman, but she wrote nonfiction. Its appeal was that it read like good fiction.

From earliest reading times, Thomas Costain was memorable ("The Silver Chalice," "The Black Rose,"
Son of a Hundred Kings," and "The Three Edwards.") Also Allen Drury ("Advice and Consent" et. al.) and Victoria Holt ("House of a Thousand Lanterns," et. al.) and Helen MacInnis ("The Venetian Affair," et. al.) and C.P. Snow ("Strangers and Brothers," et. al.)

Certainly James Michener, who I knew and did some research for (my favorite book of all: "The Source").

Currently, I'm reading everything of the following history fiction authors, as they produce: Lindsey Davis, Steven Saylor (both writing about Rome). Sharon Kay Penmen (the English monarchs), and Anne Perry (who I've met, who has a jazzy background, including murder, who wrote about Victorian England, and whose books I'm now tiring of.)

 

[SimonDoom]

Chloe mentioned Gore Vidal. He wrote a series of historical novels about different periods of American history, starting with Burr. Gore was unbelievably erudite, insufferably so, and extremely opinionated and critical about many aspects of American history, so he's a biased and not entirely reliable author, but always interesting. Burr was a sympathetic treatment of Aaron Burr, and it was vicious toward some of his rivals, like Thomas Jefferson, portrayed as a pompous hypocrite. Lincoln was a relatively sympathetic portrait of Abe Lincoln, but it portrayed him as a crafty politician who outfoxed everyone rather than the gentle, Solomonic figure so many of us remember today. In another book he was scathing toward Theodore Roosevelt, whom Vidal regarded as a jingoistic, imperialistic phony. If you are into American history and don't mind getting a very slanted and contrary interpretation of some of its key figures, Vidal's books are interesting and worth reading.

 

[SimonDoom]

The first author who sprang to my mind was Barbara Tuchman, but she wrote nonfiction. Its appeal was that it read like good fiction.

Good mention! Tuchman was a fantastic writer, in sheer prose style one of the best history writers I've ever read. Her history books read almost like Shakespearean tragedies. Especially The Guns of August, about the beginning of World War 1. I enjoyed A Distant Mirror, too, which was about the "calamitous" 14th Century and intended to be seen as a mirror of the 20th, for all its wars and disasters.

 

[KeithD]

The thing about Gore Vidal was that he was a political insider--the Gores are a major political family in the States, connected to the Kennedys, so his books had an insider's perspective. This prose was excellent.

 

[Treeview]

Michener, Patrick O'Brian

 

[djrip]

The first author who sprang to my mind was Barbara Tuchman, but she wrote nonfiction. Its appeal was that it read like good fiction.

From earliest reading times, Thomas Costain was memorable ("The Silver Chalice," "The Black Rose,"
Son of a Hundred Kings," and "The Three Edwards.") Also Allen Drury ("Advice and Consent" et. al.) and Victoria Holt ("House of a Thousand Lanterns," et. al.) and Helen MacInnis ("The Venetian Affair," et. al.) and C.P. Snow ("Strangers and Brothers," et. al.)

Certainly James Michener, who I knew and did some research for (my favorite book of all: "The Source").

Currently, I'm reading everything of the following history fiction authors, as they produce: Lindsey Davis, Steven Saylor (both writing about Rome). Sharon Kay Penmen (the English monarchs), and Anne Perry (who I've met, who has a jazzy background, including murder, who wrote about Victorian England, and whose books I'm now tiring of.)

Loved The Source.

 

[karina_jayde]

I loved Colleen McCullough's Roman series way back in the day. Devoured them in high school and owe my interest in ancient Rome to that series.

 

[Seadog777]

David McCollum.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Ducky, David McCallum? Oh wait it's a different spelling.

David McCollum.

 

[Seadog777]

Ducky, David McCallum? Oh wait it's a different spelling.

I did mispell it.

It's....David McCullough.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Still, not Ducky Mallard. I thought I'd missed at least a chapter in his life. Seriously, when he died, I was heartbroken. Ducky, not McCullough.

I did mispell it.

It's....David McCullough.

 

[Seadog777]

Still, not Ducky Mallard. I thought I'd missed at least a chapter in his life. Seriously, when he died, I was heartbroken. Ducky, not McCullough.

Yeah, it was sad.
He'd been declining for years though.
That's why Brian (as Jimmy Palmer), really took over on the show.

 

[BeckyJones]

Michener, Patrick O'Brian

O'Brian, fuck yeah.

And Thomas Pynchon.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I haven't watched an episode since Pauley Perrette left the show.

O'Brian, fuck yeah.

And Thomas Pynchon.