Not many people are readers. Even fewer own more than a few dozen books; usually only ones they were required to buy/read for classes. In this sea of already low readers, the most "boring" genre by far has to be historical fiction/nonfiction books. I mean, who would want to read a biography about Marx when the man's been dead for over a hundred years? Like I've always said on Historical Friction, though, being able to understand and appreciate historical literature can be very beneficial. Besides giving a broader sense of certain topics, readers can also use what they've learned in their history classes. But you can't effectively use this information unless you can "read" the content of the book; in this sense, be able to identify what is Useful and what is Not Useful. The reason you need to separate the two is because authors are people, too; oftentimes personal opinions will make their way into biographies on world leaders or heroes (a great example of this is Republican reporter Bill O'Reilly's Killing series on American presidents, a general, and even Jesus). You can do this so easily, you don't even need specific steps; a trend on this blog I'm hoping to get away from. This is much like the post "Disregarding Bias in Historical Accounts", but instead of removing bias to publish an account, you'll be trying to find truth among an already published novel.
To begin, let's take a passage from two books on the historical figure Pharaoh Noh-Tyep (yes, this is an example). One was written by Professor A, a qualified expert in Egyptian history, and the other by Dr. B, a celebrity talk show host who has a knack for history but no qualifications; the former is a report on the figure and the latter is a fictional story. They read:
"In Egypt, never has their been a figure like the Pharaoh Noh-Tyep. His kingdom ruled far and wide, spreading from the Northern regions to modern-day Congo. Truly, he was a man to be dealt with; wise and powerful in his ruling yet strict and violent in his conquests. Outshining Ramses and Cleopatra, Noh-Tyep should be a household name. But his corruption and deceiving brother proved his downfall, and today he is noticeably absent in many history textbooks..." -Professor A
"As the Pharaoh looked out upon his kingdom, he thought on his life. Born to Pharaoh Rey-gef and Queen Joanna the Graceful in the late 4000s B.C.E, his life was far from toiling. But he had worked hard to get to where he had arrived, as the "Conqueror of Zaire" and ruler of most of the African continent. As he pondered his next move, he was already being buried. His traitorous brother, Ra the Mighty, had begun to smite his name out of the hieroglyphs back home. None would know of his plans for the Pyramids, or his peaceful trade with the Orient. Ra would take his place, and ruin his reputation forever..." -Dr. B
Seems simple enough, right? The one with the most experience-Prof. A-obviously has the best information to use in a historical setting. Right?
In reality, you can't use the entirety of A's passage. But why? For starters, it contains nothing factually relevant to the history of Pharaoh Noh-Tyep: his birth, the context, who he conquered, why he was deceived, etc. It actually reads like an affective report on the figure by the Professor; opinion has no place when determining truth. This passage, therefore, is Not Useful.
On the other hand, Dr. B's passage, while fictitious, is actually based in fact. It gives relative birth years, parents, other names, context, motive, etc. By using fiction, B has successfully relayed factual information. While there could be opinions in the novel, it can be almost masked by the fiction and refocus the reader on facts. This makes the book somewhat Useful.
Surprisingly, this is often how it is with history books. The novel can be written by a remarkable expert and be more opinionated than an article in the National Enquirer, or be written by a TV Star and be incredibly accurate and useful. However, don't throw out the expert's novel just yet; while one passage may be biased, the rest of the novel could be completely informative; the same goes for the "celebrity drama". If you just focus on the useful info, though you'll always be able to find a use for it in history class.
-Conqueror of Zaire
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