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When you read a good book about real events, something fascinating happens. Pages turn faster than you expect. Your pulse races at the prospect of real danger. You wonder about characters long after you finish the book. These are the effects of historical nonfiction books that manage to combine elements of both novels and journalistic record-keeping.
Many readers find traditional history books to be dry, exhausting exercises in endurance. Dense with dates and random facts, such books have little interest in making the reader care about what happened. Yet, historical nonfiction books have managed to change the situation for the better. This change was made possible by authors who realized that historical truth and engaging storytelling are not mutually exclusive. By emphasizing character-driven writing, plot revelation, and atmospheric submersion, historical nonfiction books breathe new life into the study of the past.
Why Historical Nonfiction Books Feel Like Reading Fiction
Engaging narrative that makes historical nonfiction books so fascinating does have its tricks and techniques. However, all of these can be found in regular books about real events and real people.
First, good historical nonfiction books know how to build their narrative to provide an engaging story. This may mean varying the pacing, but a stronger reason is to understand what your book wants to say. Instead of randomly stringing together events, make sure that each revelation propels your narrative forward and provides the reader with some new information and a fresh perspective on the topic.
Second, character-focused writing makes historical nonfiction books so much more appealing. Your characters are no longer faceless labels in the textbook. You know their hopes, their fears, their relationships. Understanding the reasons behind their actions makes history more personal and relatable.
Third, setting the scene helps recreate the atmosphere that the characters experienced. Good historical nonfiction books do not simply describe broad swaths of history. Instead, they zoom into the details of everyday events, focusing on the feel of the air, the rough texture of clothes, and the smell of a room. This approach works especially well in genres such as historical fiction books and military history books. Describing the setting is the easiest way to immerse the reader in a different time and place.
Fourth, realistic dialogues help historical nonfiction books engage the reader on a more intimate level. If you can provide some fictionalized version of what real people said, do it. Historical nonfiction books rarely fail when they utilize this technique, which has been proven effective by hundreds of years of historical fiction. Just be sure to cite your sources or, if you are using fictional dialogues, explain that they are not real.
Finally, conflicts and drama help turn the facts presented in the book into a coherent story. No matter what historical figures or events you describe, make sure to present their dramatic aspect as well. Only by showing people in their struggle can you turn dry facts into a compelling narrative that anybody can relate to.
Why People Like Nonfiction Books With a Narrative Style
These qualities of nonfiction books that use a narrative style make them more appealing than ever before. After finishing such a book, you will be more likely to remember the facts and dates than after reading a traditional history book. Besides, a narrative style often makes you more empathetic to people described in the book. This is especially true for those historical figures who had a hard life or struggled to achieve their goals. Finally, a story-driven approach helps historical nonfiction books tackle broad, multi-faceted topics. The events and people described in them become easier to grasp and understand.
Also, people enjoy reading nonfiction books in a narrative style because such books make historical research more accessible to everybody. If someone likes a book set in ancient Rome, they may want to learn more about that period. Instead of giving them a bland textbook-style description of Roman roads, you can analyze how these roads connected disparate parts of the Empire and facilitated cultural exchange. Moreover, nonfiction books that use a narrative style are more likely to encourage readers to research further. Becoming more interested in the subject, they will seek more information. This is the primary reason why such books are so valuable to researchers, educators, and even historians. All three are well aware of the benefits of promoting history through nonfiction books with a narrative style. After a brief recap of the topic, let us proceed to discuss certain books about history in a narrative style.
The Lower Road
Author: Robert P. Smith
This book describes how Robert Smith and his family had to leave the comfort of their home in Brooklyn for an abandoned piece of land in upstate New York. As the author recalls the events through the eyes of a young boy, you will experience the hardships of the winter, the loneliness, and the love within the family. Full of drama and warmth, this historical nonfiction book perfectly captures the spirit of self-sufficiency.
The Splendid and the Vile
Author: Erik Larson
In this book, Larson presents the early days of Winston Churchill’s first year in office. As his narration moves at a thriller pace, you will see the world through the eyes of arguably the most important person of the 20th century. Churchill is shown as a multi-sided and energetic character who has the whole country at his fingertips. The narrative quality of this book is so high that it makes you read the book at a page-turning speed.
Killers of the Flower Moon
Author: David Grann
This work of historical nonfiction is written in such a way that it could have been a detective novel. In it, Grann describes the brutal murders of Osage Indians committed by members of their families. Even more so, he traces the history of this American Indian tribe and the subsequent cover-up carried out by the FBI. This book is notable for its narrative quality that makes you remember what you read.
The Radium Girls
Author: Kate Moore
Moore’s book is the story of young women who painted clock faces with radium and later died because of their ignorance of the element’s harmful effects. Instead of focusing on the industrial and medical history of the first decades of the 20th century, the author gives us a look into the personal stories of these women. Moore describes their dreams, their aspirations, their friendships, and even their legal battles with companies that employed them. Again, the primary appeal of the book lies in the tremendous narrative power that makes readers remember the story long after finishing the book.
Lonesome Dove
Author: Larry McMurtry
This novel about the life of cowboys and pioneers may be considered one of the best examples of how nonfiction books with a narrative style appeal to such wide audiences. Although some classify this work as historical fiction, it is, in fact, based on real events from the American Wild West. The sheer scope of research put into the creation of this book provides an accurate portrayal of both the events of the era and the people who lived it.
Why This Matters
Essentially, nonfiction books with a narrative style are not fiction. They do present factual information, which is sometimes even the result of thorough research conducted by the author. The purpose of such books is not to entertain the readers. Instead, they seek to provide a new and, as mentioned above, more accessible look at history. In that sense, this type of nonfiction book presents a model example of narrative writing about historical topics.
These books are not written the way historical fiction books are. Even within the limited scope of nonfiction books with a narrative style, historical truth is presented as an objective reality. At the same time, it is also interpreted using the tools of literary narration. The purpose of such a book is to educate the reader while also entertaining them. Moreover, nonfiction books with a narrative style emphasize the value of truth. After all, one can argue that the most important quality of nonfiction books is not in their ability to entertain, but in their capacity to teach us something valuable. In this regard, books about history, written in a compelling way, have a distinct advantage over any other types of narrative nonfiction.
Conclusion
To sum up, historical nonfiction books present an unparalleled look at history. Their appeal lies in using the techniques of literary narration to create an accurate portrayal of the past. These books educate us about people, events, and cultures long gone. At the same time, they also provide a unique look at the events that shaped our world. The list of such books shows that there is no shortage of sources. This is especially true for books about historical figures that present vivid portraits of people who have changed the course of history.
