Historical fiction for history buffs

Last edited Mon Jan 23, 2012, 12:29 PM - Edit history (1)

When I was a kid, the adventures of Dartagnan, Rob Roy and Johnny Tremaine picqued my interest in history. I've subsequently read a lot of "serious" history, but no historian gets any closer to King Leopold's Congo than Joseph Conrad does in Heart of Darkness. Tacitus is wonderful, but Robert Graves brought the Empire to life for millions of lay readers. In that spirit I'd like to recommend Colleen McCullough's series on the Roman republic. I've read the first two, The First Man in Rome and The Grass Crown, which explore the lives of Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla. They run to 1000 pages each and are crammed with detail about the political machinations of Rome's ruling orders. This period marks the end of the Republic' from the Jugurthine wars to the death of Julius Caesar, and as one reads, it's tempting to see parallels with the decay of our own Republic, though we have yet to see our politicians putting one anothers head on pikes. These are novels, so Ms. McCullough's characterization are to be taken with a grain of salt, but as way to pass the long winter evenings they beat the pants off Jerseylicious and Real Housewives of Atlanta. If you find Sallust a bit tedious, give these a try.