Jeez, how could I forget one of my favorite writers – Don Robertson. His two-volume Great American Novel (IMHO) Paradise Falls follows some of the characters from his Civil War novels – The River and the Wilderness, By Antietam Creek, The Three Days and Prisoners of Twilight. He’s out of print but I’ve managed to find all of his books at reasonable prices.
He’s anti-war but not preachy, and as far as I can tell, he’s done the research. His novels focus on the ordinary soldier rather than the generals, and they’re very raw and gritty. Nothing romantic or flag-waving or sappy.
If you’re interested in politics, you won’t find anything better than A Flag Full of Stars, all of which takes place on Election Day in 1948. The period right after WWII needs more literary attention, I think.
If you’re going to do the Flashman / Sharpe / Patrick O’Brian route, I’ll chime in in support of the Hornblower books, the original and still the best of that genre. Is there a name for it yet? There have been enough series of the “take a fictional character and follow him as he rises through the ranks by participating in famous historical battles” mold that it should have a name, says I. Anyway, carry on.
I love Rosemary Sutcliffe. I actually just reread a bunch of her books this summer; that one unfortunately wasn’t in the library, as it was a good one.
I personally put Pillars of the Earth in the “so bad it was hilariously fantastic” category, and even read the second which was even better. I mean worse. Or whatever. My favourite part was when the girl, whatshername, decides on a whim to take off across France to find her babydaddy. 'Cause that was so easy at the time.
The Jump-Off Creek by Molly Gloss is one of my favorite pioneer-era novels. Quiet, tough, and spare, just like its protagonist (a single woman), and the story is based on the author’s own family saga. Very few, if any, forays into cliche.
And on a very different note, The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber is a fantastic, fascinating look at several strata in 1870s London social life. One of my favorite books ever.
I agree. I read a brief review of LD in Entertainment Weekly (which was discussing the best books of the past 25 years). The point was something along the lines of how, after reading the first 50 pages, the reader will cry out in anguish, realizing that there are only 800 more pages left. I ordered the book that day, and spent my summer thoroughly enjoying the longest cattle drive ever.
Suspension It’s a novel about the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s very factual about how it was done and deals with the people that were behind it. Many of the workers suffered from the bends because of the way the bridge was built. The fiction part is a band of disgruntled ex-confederate soldiers attempting to sabbatoge it.
I’ll add The Good Earth. I picked it up at the library because there was nothing else that looked remotely interesting, and I was absolutely amazed. Usually I find that the classics are like taking medicine- kind of painful, but ultimately good for you. The Good Earth, on the other hand, was one of those novels I could not put down. Absolutely engrossing. Also, you don’t find too many books about 1930’s China.
For historical fiction with a sci-fi twist, I recommend two books by Harry Turtledove:
Guns of the South- The Confederacy gets a hold of Uzis! No, really!
Household Gods- A modern woman accidentally wishes herself back to ancient Rome.
Now, I know these plots sound ridiculous, but Harry Turtledove has a way of taking the ridiculous plot and making it seem totally authentic. Both the above books recreated the daily lives of the people of the time in a way that doesn’t match any other historical novel I’ve ever read, with the exception of the Aubrey/Maturin series.
I really didn’t like the Falco novels; the main character annoyed me and sometimes seemed to do the exact opposite of what I would be doing in that situation. They do capture the “flavour” of Rome pretty well, though.
Margaret Elphinstone is excellent; especially Light (set in 1831 about the staff of an aging lighthouse and the lighthouse surveyors who arrive to plan it’s replacement) and Voyageurs (about an English Quaker travelling to Montreal and beyond to the fur country). Also Hy Brasil, but it’s not real history!
Cecelia Holland can be very good, too. I’ve only read a couple of her books so I couldn’t say what her best ones are but Soul Thief and Witches’ Kitchen were good, and I also enjoyed Floating Worlds a long time ago, although that one is SF…
Wont repeat any of those posted before but heres my suggestions for what they’re worth.
For sheer excellence you must read Colleen McCulloughs "Masters of Rome "series,pure genius each and every one.
The historical detective stories by Bernard Knight,Paul Docherty are very good reads,also if you can get hold of them the Judge Dee crime novels set in Tang dynasty China by Robert Van Gulik I’d be surprised if you were disappointed but I suspect that they may well be out of print.
You asked about the bad writers as well so heres a couple…
Steven Saylor who writes ancient Roman detective stories that are truly dreadful,he doesn’t seem to know very much about the culture that he has set his protagonists in and appears to be unwilling or unable to portray his heroes as anything other then present day characters but wearing togas instead of pants/trousers.
He has had quite a few books published so in the spirit of fairness I attempted to read one of his latter ones thinking that with time he might well have gained a little more knowledge about his chosen subject.
Unfortunately for readers everywhere he hasn’t.
Another subject of my personal thumbs down is Rosemary Rowe who if anything is even worse then Saylor, but in her defence I think that her books are INTENTIONALLY as they are as a result of subtle(or not so ?)tounge in cheek.
There is also Martha Rofheart, one of my favorite authors (from the 70s) She wrote “Glendower Country”, about Owen Glendower in the 1300-1400s, “Fortune Made His Sword” , about Henry V, “The Alexandrian”, about Cleopatra, and “My Name is Sappho”, about, you guessed it, Sappho. She wrote other books, but I think these books I mentioned are her best. They are hard to find now, though.
My favorite fiction ever is Trinity by Leon Uris. I’ve read it once and my husband read it aloud to be the second time. Then we got another friend to read it and it was all we could talk about for weeks. The first 150 to 200 pages are a little slow and then the magic takes over. It is set mostly in Ireland in the 19th Century and a good deal of it is about the conflict over British rule. But there’s so much more!
If you want something a little more frivolous, here’s an oldie: Forever Amber. It is set in England during the reign of Charles II, I believe. It is great storytelling without being great literature. And it’s long enough to get lost in. Usually I suggest this to my women friends, but Sampiro it is something that you might get a kick out of. I think it came out in the 1940s.
It nearly ruined my first marriage. I took a copy of it on my first honeymoon and couldn’t put it down!
BTW, GWTW was assigned to me by my English teacher when I was 16. I was horrified when I saw 1038 (?) pages. I didn’t want to sleep or eat while I was reading it. But my daughter-in-law refuses to read it because of its misportrayal of the attitude of slaves in the South.
I recommend Dissolution by C. J. Samson. It’s a 16th century mystery set during the, well, dissolution of the monasteries. I enjoyed it because the characters were more true to the period and didn’t have 21st century sensibilities.
P. F. Chisolm’s series on Robert Carey is also a wonderful read. She really gets the period down, and I’m sort of in love with Robert Carey now. Famine of Horses; the first in the series
True dat! Shardlake is a bit of an ass, by modern standards – so very class conscious.
Another good series with a non-PC hero is the Abel Jones books by Owen Parry – mysteries set during the Civil War. Jones is surprised at meeting African-Americans who are educated, he hates the Irish (they’re dirty and lazy and Catholic), and women should be kept in the kitchen. But his experiences are affecting him and he’s growing, gradually. The first book is A Faded Coat of Blue. Parry is a pen name of Ralph Peters, who writes military stuff, I think.
I love his books and have most of them. The Journeyer was the first of his I’d read, in my early 20’s, and it was fascinating to me. I’ve immensely enjoyed all of his books, but that’s my favorite. I’ve never mentioned him on the Dope because I’d never seen anybody else mention him and I thought maybe I just have bad taste. Or maybe we both do. I do find it amusing, though, how he has his characters invent all kinds of important things, like guns and eyeglasses.
I’ve enjoyed some of her stuff, but her viewpoint on Elizabeth I (even more than Anne Boleyn) completely turned me off. That being said, I thought The Constant Princess (Katherine of Aragon) was good.
My current favorites:
Shogun by Clavell.
Child of the Morning by Pauline Gedge (about Hatshepsut).
Alison Weir’s fiction works The Innocent Traitor (Lady Jane Grey) and The Lady Elizabeth.
The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco, presents a vivid portrait of medieval monastic life. (The movie followed the book pretty closely but, necessarily, left out my favorite part – the detailed description of the organization of the monastery’s library.)
My favourite part was when the girl, whatshername, decides on a whim to take off across France to find her babydaddy. 'Cause that was so easy at the time.