All Blog Posts Tagged 'history' (32)

What Did "They" Believe?

As a writer of historicals and a history teacher for many years, I am often irritated by statements about what people in the past believed. "They believed it was unhealthy to sleep with the windows open." or "They thought the stars controlled a person's destiny." My question always is "Who is 'they'?"

If we apply the same generalizations to today, then "we" believe that the everyday actions of someone named Lindsey or Paris or Beyonce are very, very important. "'We' also believe that… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on April 21, 2009 at 10:53pm — 7 Comments

Gaza violence disrupts even the dead

Historic World War I cemeteries badly damaged in recent attacks.

By Matt Beynon Rees - GlobalPost

In Gaza, violence is so prevalent, even death doesn’t put you beyond its reach. Nor does a grave protect you from further insult to your dignity.

The fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas gunmen at the turn of the year damaged several hundred of… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on March 9, 2009 at 4:48pm — 1 Comment

The Last Question...for a While

At the beginning of February I announced that I'd dedicate the month to questions, since I'm traveling and they're short and fairly easy. It's hard to believe this is the last one, but Monday is March.

So the last question to reflect on is if you were forced to return to an earlier age (let's say at least 100 years ago), what would you choose?

I love certain eras for reading about, but that doesn't mean I'd be comfortable living there. I guess I'd look for something fairly… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on February 27, 2009 at 11:20pm — 6 Comments

Don't Want to Blow Up Dana's Brain...

So we'll make it an easy one today. What's the last "great" historical novel you read?
Mine is MISTRESS OF THE ART OF DEATH by Ariana Franklin.

Added by Peg Herring on February 26, 2009 at 11:03pm — 7 Comments

A Question of Character

Yesterday I suggested that authors of historical fiction need to clarify somewhere in their work how much liberty they took with the fact of whatever matter they take on. There is, however, a fascinating area of history left in a sort of no-man's land: the questions with no answers.

Did Richard III have anything to do with his nephews' disappearance from the Tower of London? Was Richard the Lionheart a homosexual? Did Lizzie Borden really "take an ax..."

Such questions are… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on February 25, 2009 at 7:30pm — 1 Comment

What's Historical and What's Novel?

I've been speaking a lot on historical novels this week, and the question always comes up: how does the reader tell what's true and what isn't? It seems that the avid reader gobbles up book after book, and in the end may not consider much whether the author has a bias, wants to influence his audience's thinking, or just skews things to make a good story.

I think authors should clarify somewhere, in the foreword or the afterword e.g., what is true and what isn't in a book. History… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on February 24, 2009 at 9:17pm — 6 Comments

I just got the world's shortest review

Or maybe not the world's shortest, exactly - I'm sure there have been shorter ones - but it's my shortest, by far. Three sentences, and one is a quote from moi. You can check it out here - however, since it's only three lines, I figure I may as well post it, so you don't have to make the extra click:

Jennie Bentley writes, "If Derek — 6 feet tall, with melting blue eyes,… Continue

Added by Jennie Bentley/Bente Gallagher on December 8, 2008 at 3:00am — 3 Comments

History of Halloween

Any of you into Halloween? Thought some of you might find the history interesting.

Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).

The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a… Continue

Added by Tory Richards on October 31, 2008 at 12:18pm — No Comments

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Everyone's a little scared. Life may change, big time, for a lot of people. We can't help but consider what those changes might be, what it means for us.

While I don't spend a lot of time fearing the future (It will come and neither you nor I can stop it), I did start thinking about other times in history when change came along to sweep out established patterns. It can't have been easy to be a settler on any frontier, an investor in sailing ships that often didn't return, a believer… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on October 10, 2008 at 11:02pm — No Comments

Strangers or History?

A thought came to me earlier today so I'm blogging about it. Do you like a story where the hero and heroine don't know each other or do you like a story where they have history together?

Added by Tory Richards on October 4, 2008 at 12:34pm — No Comments

Confessions of a History B(L)uff

When I was in school, my favorite subjects, not surprisingly, were literature and creative writing, followed by assorted languages (all modern). On the flipside, I hated history. Not because I had a hard time memorizing all the names and dates, because I didn’t. And as a child of parents coming of age in occupied Europe, I even understood the importance of learning from the past so we avoid making the same mistakes in the future. But really, did I have to know the exact day Marie Antoinette was… Continue

Added by Jennie Bentley/Bente Gallagher on July 16, 2008 at 12:47am — No Comments

"Modern Dress"

This is an article from the Manchester Guardian (as it was then) archives for 1926. I hope you find it as interesting and amusing as I do. The pic is from a different source.

THE TUNIC OF DIANA

Murial Harris

Friday July 16, 1926

guardian.co.uk

It is often alleged that the new freedom of women - games, sport, enterprise of all kinds - is responsible for modern dress. No doubt this is true in… Continue

Added by Carola Dunn on July 5, 2008 at 11:18am — No Comments