Historical Info for Historical Fiction Readers discussion

In this thread, you may discuss, recommend and ask questions about individual history books.

I recommend the book Daily Life in Victorian England by Sally Mitchell. It is humorous and enjoyable, covering many interesting topics about the era. I see Sally's name come up in discussions about Victorian life here and there.

Daily Life in Victorian England (The Greenwood Press Daily Life Through History Series)

Not sure I am allowed to 'recommend' my own book entitled Journal of a Georgian Gentleman! It is based upon all the diaries, jottings, accounts - even shopping lists - kept by my 4xGreat grandfather. He was a hosier i.e. stocking maker at Number One London Bridge and he lived between 1729 and 1801 so if anyone wants to know what daily life was like in London in the latter half of the 18th Century it may be of use. For some extraordinary reason not a thing has been thrown out for 250 years - I still sit on the old boy's chairs, use his silver, read his books, look at his shell, fossil and coin collections and can even see what he ate, his recipes, his concerns about his teenage children - the lot!
The book details can be found at my website at http://mikerendell.com

Georgiangent wrote: "Not sure I am allowed to 'recommend' my own book entitled Journal of a Georgian Gentleman! It is based upon all the diaries, jottings, accounts - even shopping lists - kept by my 4xGreat grandfathe..."

Very cool. The minutia of daily life in ages past is often fascinating. Will definitely take a look.

George in London

Cool, but you imagine what it is like being married to an inveterate hoarder like me, where I carry on the tradition of storing lists, papers, and ephemera until the house is overflowing with trunks and boxes!(Apparently it isn't easy!)

Georgiangent wrote: "Cool, but you imagine what it is like being married to an inveterate hoarder like me, where I carry on the tradition of storing lists, papers, and ephemera until the house is overflowing with trunk..."

But having gone through your ancestor's papers and having written your book, you now know the historical value of your hoarding. You can justify yourself to your wife by saying that you are "assisting future historians."

George in London

All she wants to know is: when am I going to sell the film rights and can she go shopping for a new frock for the premiere!

You guys are great. Thanks for being here.

My recommendation is "A Splendid Exchange, How Trade Shaped the World," by William J. Bernstein. I read a lot of history books, but this one stunned me with information that I had never heard. A lot of the focus is on trade in the Indian Ocean between the Romans, China, India, the Arabs, and East Africa. One of the best.

No offense to the folks who recommended "Daily Life in Victorian England", but if you're reading Victorian lit in particular, a far, far better book is "What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew". This book is perhaps not laid out quite as simply as the "Daily Life in..." series but is fun reading in its own right and covers everything you'll need to know about the period.

Thanks for the recommendation. I hope they have it in the library.

How could I forget to add my blog-group's anthology here? Lots of good reviews by now on Goodreads and Amazon. Castles, Customs, and Kings: True Tales by English Historical Fiction Authors

I've just reviewed The Mongol Conquests in World History, which I can recommend as trustworthy and up-to-date on the topic.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

For European medievalists among us, I'd love to rec this unusual book on medieval emotional life, or as he puts it in his subtitle, a lost (to us) sensibility: Ennobling Love: In Search of a Lost Sensibility. From Richard I to Heloise. One of those thought-provoking works...

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Thanks, Bryn!

Diary of an Early American Boy by Eric Sloane is a pretty interesting look at the growth of a farm in New England during Colonial times. It's a bit sketchy (pun!). There isn't a lot of dialog in the diary, but Sloane explains more & fills in more blanks with his wonderful ink sketches.

If you're at all interested, it might be better to get Eric Sloane's Sketches of America Past which is composed of 3 books of his:
Diary of an Early American Boy
A Museum of Early American Tools
A Reverence for Wood

It's cheap used. I got it a year or so ago for under $5 delivered from AbeBooks.com in a regular hardback size, so the drawings show a little better than in the smaller paperback editions of these 3 books, but not as well as they do in the large format hardbacks.

This one calls for a specialized interest: RATS, LICE, AND HISTORY, by Hans Zinsser, 1934, 1963. "Being a study in biography, which after twelve preliminary chapters indispensable for the preparation of the lay reader, deals with the life history of typhus fever." It's a chronicle of the impact of epidemics on society, how disease often was the reason wars were won or lost. Somewhat anecdotal, but Zinsser was a leading scientist, a bacteriologist with worldwide reputation.

Paul wrote: "This one calls for a specialized interest: RATS, LICE, AND HISTORY, by Hans Zinsser, 1934, 1963. "Being a study in biography, which after twelve preliminary chapters indispensable for the preparati..."

Thanks, Paul. Though it does not sound like a book with much entertainment potential, it certainly has its place in the world, and I'm glad he wrote it.