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The traditional way a layman learns a little history is by reading a book (or, perhaps, watching a TV mini-series, or seeing a movie) focusing on a character in a specific slice of time. The way I first learned about Union General Sherman’s 1864 march, and the burning of Atlanta, was by watching the iconic scenes of Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara fleeing the city in Gone with the Wind. I first became aware of the fact that many white people are born and raised in Africa, and have been ever since early colonialism/imperialism, when I read about the life of a British-Kenyan girl in Barbara Wood’s historical novel, an underrated book called Green City in the Sun. My dad used to kid me about these kinds of stories, calling them “hysterical fiction”, but you have to understand that calling my dad a “history buff” is like saying Paula Dean’s cookbooks call for using a little butter from time to time. For Dad, the only thing better than a four-volume set on the life of Andrew Jackson would be a five-volume set. There is no fiction, except maybe in books about unicorns.
I think for many of readers—especially, but not exclusively, kids—historical fiction helps teach history by providing a realistic foothold in a sea of facts. Instead of saying, “the Battle of X took place on Month, Date, in the Year of Our Lord, blah, blah, blah”, a story about a character whose life is surrounded by the events of a specific time period makes it seem more real – even when the actual character is made up. I’m not suggesting we teach history only through historical fiction, since “facts” can too often be romanticized by Hollywood or bodice-rippers with a historical flavor; only that we remember how fiction can spark an interest to delve for more facts.
In my adult reading life, I still enjoy historical fiction, but I’ve found that I like reading nonfiction just as much. I am particularly drawn to a new way to learn some history lessons: I’ve discovered some fascinating books, where a clever author can skip across many years of history, focusing on a subject matter instead of a specific point in time. One of the books we love recommending to people who visit the bookstore is Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City’s Most Unwanted Inhabitants, by Robert Sullivan. What a cool, original method for examining the history of cities, the construction of sewers, plague, shipping, garbage,and pest control! Did you know that rats do not – cannot – exist without a human population? Our histories, our populations, like it or not, are inextricably tied together, and have been throughout time.
Another wonderful example of this type of “history” book is Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before, by Tony Horwitz, is another great book that skips around the world— touching on subjects as diverse as map-making, sailing, imperialism, cannibals, beer, coral reefs, sex, natural history, the discovery of previously-unknown species—while following the journeys of Captain James Cook, who sailed and mapped a large part of the Pacific, the Antarctic, and the Arctic seas and lands, in a time when all much of the world knew of these areas was “Here There Be Dragons”. Most recently, our book club read The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements, by Sam Kean. It’s been too long since I had high school chemistry, and honestly, it wasn’t my best subject even then. I refused to let that put me off reading the anecdotes of prima donna scientists, poisonings accidental and possibly purposeful, backstabbing races for the Nobel Prize, the development of chemical warfare, the immigration of scientists in the face of tyranny, and the discovery of each new element. If you thought science was boring, brush up on your protons and electrons, and bring the Periodic Table to life with books like The Disappearing Spoon!
Remember that history is in the sweeping movements and in the minituae of everyday lives. There are many ways to frame our history lessons, and it never has to be boring. If you are looking to liven up your learning, look to authors like these whose eyes see a new way to organize the facts of our lives.
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