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What isn't history?: Selected articles and speeches on writing history and historical fiction
In this publication Dr Mortimer brings together a compendium of fourteen articles and speeches about writing history and historical fiction. The principal essay and title-piece of the collection is his 2008 consideration of how a modern historian can justify what he or she does in an age of relativism and an apparent dearth of answers to the postmodernist questioning of history. Other pieces deal with such subjects as the art of history, creative non-fiction writing, history in education, the value of archives, and the difficulties of writing accurate and authentic historical fiction. The essays collectively put forward some radical ideas - about 'who is a historian?', abandoning the history syllabus in education, and how a good historical novelist may be inaccurate in many respects and yet write something that has greater meaning and 'truth' than an account of the actual past. The whole collection provides a wide range of thought-provoking points for historians, novelists, students and readers of historical non-fiction and fiction to discuss, dispute, or just enjoy.
Contents
Introduction
1.Originality in history
2.The Paris catacombs
3.What isn’t history?
4.The historian as virtual time traveller
5.History in education
6.Breaking the evidence barrier
7.Wikipedia and the ship of fools
8.The art of history
9.Historical novelists should not be afraid of telling lies
10.Why historians should write fiction
11.Creative non-fiction
12.Twelve hints for writing history for the public
13.The importance of archives
14.The problems of visiting the past in fact and fiction
Acknowledgements
About the author
Contents
Introduction
1.Originality in history
2.The Paris catacombs
3.What isn’t history?
4.The historian as virtual time traveller
5.History in education
6.Breaking the evidence barrier
7.Wikipedia and the ship of fools
8.The art of history
9.Historical novelists should not be afraid of telling lies
10.Why historians should write fiction
11.Creative non-fiction
12.Twelve hints for writing history for the public
13.The importance of archives
14.The problems of visiting the past in fact and fiction
Acknowledgements
About the author
- GenresHistory
156 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 22, 2016
10 people are currently reading
151 people want to read
About the author
Ian Mortimer
40 books1,443 followersAKA James Forrester.
Dr Ian Mortimer is a historian and novelist, best known for his Time Traveller's Guides series. He has BA, MA, PhD and DLitt degrees from the University of Exeter and UCL. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and was awarded the Alexander Prize by the Royal Historical Society in 2004. Home is the small Dartmoor town of Moretonhampstead, which he occasioanlly introduces in his books. His most recet book, 'Medieval Horizons' looks at how life changed between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries.
He also writes in other genres: his fourth novel 'The Outcasts of Time' won the 2018 Winston Graham Prize for historical fiction. His earlier trilogy of novels set in the 1560s were published under his middle names, James Forrester. In 2017 he wrote 'Why Running Matters' - a memoir of running in the year he turned fifty.
At present he is concentrating on writing history books that have experimental perspectives on the past. One example is a study of England as it would have appeared to the people living in his house over the last thousand years. This is provisionally entitled 'The History of England through the Windows of an Ordinary House'. It is due for completion in December 2024 and publication in 2026.
Dr Ian Mortimer is a historian and novelist, best known for his Time Traveller's Guides series. He has BA, MA, PhD and DLitt degrees from the University of Exeter and UCL. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and was awarded the Alexander Prize by the Royal Historical Society in 2004. Home is the small Dartmoor town of Moretonhampstead, which he occasioanlly introduces in his books. His most recet book, 'Medieval Horizons' looks at how life changed between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries.
He also writes in other genres: his fourth novel 'The Outcasts of Time' won the 2018 Winston Graham Prize for historical fiction. His earlier trilogy of novels set in the 1560s were published under his middle names, James Forrester. In 2017 he wrote 'Why Running Matters' - a memoir of running in the year he turned fifty.
At present he is concentrating on writing history books that have experimental perspectives on the past. One example is a study of England as it would have appeared to the people living in his house over the last thousand years. This is provisionally entitled 'The History of England through the Windows of an Ordinary House'. It is due for completion in December 2024 and publication in 2026.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 14, 2018
An e-book only, subject sounded interesting, and on sale at kindle - plus a short read at @160 pp. This is a collection of pieces by Mortimer - everything from blog postings to notes from talks to articles.
His area of expertise is Medieval England, and is the author of numerous histories, bios and some historical fiction.
The same points are often made piece after piece after piece - but often they are good points. He is an advocate for readable, and interesting, history books. That H/history is not just the area for academia - but still insisting on deep research (as he points out, his volumes are *heavily* annotated). As he says, he'd rather have 30,000 read his books, than 300.
He has some issue with postmodern historians, but agrees with them that historical facts/writings are not objective. So, battle scenes should be dramatic, or it is OK to write sympathetically about the death of a historical figure. His original background is in English Lit and poetry - and he shares some of his favorite authors, and how they have influenced his writing.
If I have one issue, it is that he seldom gives concrete examples of "bad" historical writing (for both nonfiction and fiction). He does give some examples.
To some extent he presents this as a continuation of Carr's "What Is History" and Jenkins' "Re-Thinking History", yet it is a (self-published?) ebook that is a collection of previous writings, not a single themed text written to the point.
While I enjoyed dipping into this collection now and again, and am glad I read it, I doubt if I will be reading any of his other works. Part of that is just that his area of expertise does not much interest me.
His area of expertise is Medieval England, and is the author of numerous histories, bios and some historical fiction.
The same points are often made piece after piece after piece - but often they are good points. He is an advocate for readable, and interesting, history books. That H/history is not just the area for academia - but still insisting on deep research (as he points out, his volumes are *heavily* annotated). As he says, he'd rather have 30,000 read his books, than 300.
He has some issue with postmodern historians, but agrees with them that historical facts/writings are not objective. So, battle scenes should be dramatic, or it is OK to write sympathetically about the death of a historical figure. His original background is in English Lit and poetry - and he shares some of his favorite authors, and how they have influenced his writing.
If I have one issue, it is that he seldom gives concrete examples of "bad" historical writing (for both nonfiction and fiction). He does give some examples.
To some extent he presents this as a continuation of Carr's "What Is History" and Jenkins' "Re-Thinking History", yet it is a (self-published?) ebook that is a collection of previous writings, not a single themed text written to the point.
While I enjoyed dipping into this collection now and again, and am glad I read it, I doubt if I will be reading any of his other works. Part of that is just that his area of expertise does not much interest me.
Displaying 1 of 1 review