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Historical Fiction

The best way to learn history is not always in a textbook. (That's probably the worst way, really, but more on that elsewhere.) While learning history through novels can be taken too far (it is fiction after all), there's much to be said for getting a feel for the Civil War through books like The Red Badge of Courage or Across Five Aprils, or learning about the deep rifts between Saxons and Normans in Medieval England through Scott's Ivanhoe.

A well-researched historical novel imparts something no list of names and dates can—a picture of life among a particular people at a particular time, the way they thought, the way they ate, who they admired, how they traveled. Sometimes readers are introduced to real historical figures and events from an intimate perspective, not the stale cardboard presentations common in schools.

There's plenty of nonsense available, of course, and just because the cover says a book takes place in Renaissance Italy or ancient Egypt doesn't mean it's a good book, or even that it's historical fiction in the true sense. A writer who simply transposes stories on different time periods isn't really saying anything about that time period, they're just trying to inflate sales with an appeal to the exotic and unfamiliar.

Such bogus historical fiction is really just fantasy. The good stuff is real and bright and dusty and loud, just like an old Roman city or a battle between Roundheads and Cavaliers. It reflects the religious sentiments of the characters as they would have been, such as in Lilli Thal's brilliant Medieval epic Mimus. It shows how one small action can lead to many much larger events, as happens frequently in C.S. Forester's Hornblower series.

Whether you're into the technical descriptions of battles found in Henty's boy-versus-the-world stories, or prefer the romance of The Scarlet Pimpernel, or like to break your heart over and over with books like Amos Fortune, Free Man, historical fiction is above all fiction of the present—not to be kept in the annals of the past, it shows us that the people of long ago (or not so long ago) are not so different than the people of today.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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Active Filters: 12th grade (Ages 17-18), Used Books & Materials
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Windermere Readers #19
by Jules Verne, translated by Philip Schuyler Allen with a frontispiece by Milo Winter
1956 printing from Rand McNally
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies
Hornblower Series #11
by C. S. Forester
from Little, Brown & Company
Nautical fiction for 8th-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.14 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies
Hornblower Series #11
by C. S. Forester
from Little, Brown & Company
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$11.20 (1 in stock)
Beat to Quarters
Hornblower Series #6
by C. S. Forester
from Little, Brown & Company
Nautical fiction for 10th-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.14 $7.20 (1 in stock)
Beyond the Sacred Page
Book of Books #2
by Jack Cavanaugh
from Zondervan
for 7th-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Billy Budd
Signet Classics
by Herman Melville
from Signet Classics
Realistic Nautical Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.21 $2.40 (1 in stock)
Billy Budd, Sailor, and Other Stories
by Herman Melville
from Bantam Books
Realistic Nautical Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.21 $2.00 (2 in stock)
Brethren
by H. Rider Haggard
from Christian Liberty Press
Historical Fiction for 8th-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$14.24 $7.20 (1 in stock)
Butter in the Well: Historical Diary 1868-1888
by Linda K. Hubalek
from Butterfield Books
for 8th-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Caine Mutiny
by Herman Wouk
from Doubleday & Company
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
Caine Mutiny
by Herman Wouk, illustrated by John Thompson
from Reader's Digest
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Chord of Steel
by Thomas B. Costain
from Doubleday & Company
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
Codfish Musket
by Agnes Hewes, illustrated by Armstrong Sperry
from Doubleday, Doran & Company Inc.
for 8th-12th grade
1937 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$45.00 (1 in stock)
Commodore Hornblower
Hornblower Series #9
by C. S. Forester
from Little, Brown & Company
Nautical fiction for 10th-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.14 $7.20 (1 in stock)
Cry, the Beloved Country
by Alan Paton
5th edition from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Cry, the Beloved Country
by Alan Paton
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.00 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Dark Venture
by Audrey White Beyer, illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$11.20 (1 in stock)
Days of Joseph
by John Noble
from Unknown Publisher
for 9th-12th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Earth is the Lord's
by Taylor Caldwell
from Literary Guild of America
for 11th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Far Lands
by James Norman Hall
from Little, Brown & Company
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Far Side of the World
Aubrey/Maturin #10
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$13.95 $7.50 (1 in stock)
Far Side of the World
Aubrey/Maturin #10
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Flames of Rome
by Paul L. Maier
2nd edition from Kregel Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Flying Colours
Hornblower Series #8
by C. S. Forester
from Little, Brown & Company
Nautical fiction for 10th-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$14.44 $8.00 (2 in stock)
For God and the King
William and Mary Trilogy Volume 3
by Marjorie Bowen
from Inheritance Publications
Historical fiction for 9th-12th grade
in Inheritance Fiction (Location: FIC-WH03)
$16.96 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Fortune of War
Aubrey/Maturin #6
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.95 $6.50 (1 in stock)
Friendship Train
by Linda Baten Johnson
from Katy Crossing Press
for 8th-12th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
Glimpses of Truth
Book of Books #1
by Jack Cavanaugh
from Zondervan
for 7th-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Gods and Generals
by Jeff Shaara
from Ballantine Books
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Golden Ocean
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$25.99 $7.50 (1 in stock)
H. M. S. Surprise
Aubrey/Maturin #3
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
House Divided
by Ben Ames Williams, jacket & illustrations by Reginald Marsh
from Houghton Mifflin
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Hundred Days
Aubrey/Maturin #19
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
I Will Maintain
William and Mary Trilogy Volume 1
by Marjorie Bowen
from Inheritance Publications
Historical Fiction for 9th-12th grade
in Inheritance Fiction (Location: FIC-WH03)
$13.56 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Ionian Mission
Aubrey/Maturin #8
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.95 $7.50 (1 in stock)
Jack Nastyface
by William Robinson
from US Naval Institute Press
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.60 (1 in stock)
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
by Susanna Clarke
from Bloomsbury Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Killer Angels
by Michael Shaara
1st edition from Ballantine Books
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$5.60 (1 in stock)
Kitchen Boy
by Robert Alexander
Reprint from Penguin Press
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Last Castle
by George MacDonald, edited for today's reader by Dan Hamilton
from Victor Books
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Les Miserables
Signet Classics
by Victor Hugo
from Signet Classics
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Les Miserables (abridged)
by Victor Hugo, supplementary materials written by Margaret Brantley
from Simon and Schuster
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$8.49 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Lord Hornblower
Hornblower Series #10
by C. S. Forester
from Little, Brown & Company
Nautical fiction for 10th-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.14 $7.20 (2 in stock)
Lord Hornblower
by C. S. Forester
from Little, Brown & Company
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
Lysbeth
by H. Rider Haggard
from Christian Liberty Press
Historical Fiction for 8th-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$14.24 $7.20 (2 in stock)
Man Called Cervantes
by Bruno Frank
from Viking Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Map That Changed the World
by Simon Winchester
1st edition from HarperCollins
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$10.00 (2 in stock)
Massacre at Fall Creek
by Jessamyn West
from Harcourt Brace Jovanich
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Men Against the Sea
by Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall
from Little, Brown & Company
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$21.99 $11.00 (1 in stock)
Midshipman Bolitho
by Alexander Kent
from McBooks Press
for 8th-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
Moneyman
by Thomas B. Costain
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 10th grade - Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Moon and Sixpence
Modern Library
by W. Somerset Maugham
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
Morbid Taste for Bones
Brother Cadfael
by Ellis Peters
from Mysterious Press
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
My Heart Lies South
by Elizabeth Borton de Treviño
Young People's Edition from Bethlehem Books
Biography for 8th-12th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$12.71 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym
by Edgar Allan Poe, illustrated by Rene Clarke
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Never Dies the Dream
by Margaret Landon
from Doubleday & Company
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Parcel of Patterns
by Jill Paton Walsh
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 7th-12th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.34 $4.40 (2 in stock)
Patterns on the Wall
Good and the Beautiful Library Level 8
by Elizabeth Yates, with updated grammar and spelling by Jenny Phillips
from The Good and the Beautiful
for 9th-12th grade
in GATB Language Arts & Reading (Location: CUR-GABELA)
$5.50 (1 in stock)
Pearl Maiden
by H. Rider Haggard
from Christian Liberty Press
Historical Fiction for 8th-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$14.24 $7.20 (1 in stock)
Pontius Pilate
by Paul L. Maier
2nd edition from Kregel Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.50 (1 in stock)
Rainbow's Gold
by Vera Martin Lynch
from William W. Lynch
for 6th-12th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$4.40 (1 in stock)
Ramona
by Helen Jackson
from Little, Brown & Company
for 9th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Ride With Me
by Thomas B. Costain
1944 Edition from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Rifleman Dodd
by C. S. Forester
from Marine Corps University
for 8th-12th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$2.40 (1 in stock)
Scarlet
by Stephen R. Lawhead
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Sea Captain from Salem
Treegate Series Book 3
by Leonard Wibberley
Reprint from Bethlehem Books
for 9th-12th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Shepherd of the Hills
by Harold Bell Wright
from Bethany House
for 9th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Shepherd of the Hills
by Harold Bell Wright
from Shepherd of the Hills Historical Society
for 9th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Shepherd of the Hills
by Harold Bell Wright; illustrated by F. Graham Cootes
from A. L. Burt Company
for 9th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$11.20 (1 in stock)
Sherwood Ring
by Elizabeth Marie Pope
from Sandpiper Books
for 10th-12th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.79 $3.60 (1 in stock)
Smiling Rebel
by Harnett T. Kane
from Doubleday & Company
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Snow Goose
by Paul Gallico
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 7th-12th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.96 $11.20 (3 in stock)
Son of a Hundred Kings
by Thomas B. Costain
from Doubleday & Company
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Story of Liberty
by Charles Coffin
from Maranatha Publications
Historical Reference for 10th-Adult
in America's Christian Heritage (Location: HISA-CH)
$19.97 $10.00 (2 in stock)
Story of Yorktown as told by Conrad Shultz
by W. Walter Van Baman
from Privately printed
History in Verse for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$12.80 (1 in stock)
The Hurricane
by Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall
from Little, Brown & Company
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
The Robe
by Lloyd Douglas
from Houghton Mifflin
Historical Fiction for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99 $8.00 (1 in stock)
The Robe
by Lloyd C. Douglas
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Three Musketeers
Macmillan Classics
by Alexandre Dumas, illustrated by James Daugherty
2nd Printing, 1923 from Macmillan
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
Through the Wall
by Alida Sims Malkus
from The Good and the Beautiful
for 8th-Adult
in GATB Language Arts & Reading (Location: CUR-GABELA)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Tontine - 2 Volume Set
by Thomas B. Costain
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
Weight of a Flame
Chosen Daughters
by Simonetta Carr
from P&R Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
Why Read Moby-Dick?
by Nathaniel Philbrick
Reprint from Penguin Press
for 11th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
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