History Books And Magazines Are As entertaining As Fiction
By Grady Atwater
One of the objections to learning about history is that history books are
dry and boring, and people don’t have time to read a big, thick, history
book. However, history is as entertaining as fiction when it comes to
telling compelling stories that offer drama and interest for readers.
Osawatomie’s own history is a great story that is full of drama, action
and adventure that rivals anything a fiction writer can produce from their
imagination.
The question then is, “why are some history books dry and boring?” The
reason is that historians work to analyze and explain why things happened in
the past, and some history books concentrate less on stories and more on
analysis, which some readers find interesting, and others find dry and
boring. Most primarily analytical history books will be written by
academics who quite naturally write in an academic style. Readers who
either enjoy, or can overcome their objections to academic history books
will find that they can learn a great deal about the reasons that history
has changed throughout the years, and about the various views different
historians have about the events of the past.
For readers who are looking for history books that offer interesting and
entertaining stories, a narrative history book fills the bill. Narrative
histories tell a story chronologically from beginning to end, and offer
readers realistic historical stories that educate while simultaneously
being entertaining. Historians who write narrative histories are working
to educate the public while simultaneously striving to make their work an
interesting book or article to read. It is important to note, though, that
every historian who writes a book includes analysis on some level, so
there will be some analytical statements in any history book. However,
narrative works contain dramatically more story than analysis and offer
readers a chance to learn about history and read a good story.
Readers who don’t have time to read entire books need not despair. History
magazines offer articles written by historians that offer a quick read
offering good stories and basic facts for readers. The brevity demanded
by the minimal word count that historians who write for magazines labor
under ensure that readers who want their history in small entertaining
doses will find what they want in these sources.
History magazines come in different forms. Academic journals offer mainly
analytical papers that are written in a strict academic style. This is
because academic journals are written primarily for academics and serious
history buffs that have a deep interest in a certain aspect of history.
Most history magazines are aimed at the general public, and offer
interesting narrative stories that will give readers the gist of what
happened during an historical event without too much in depth information.
History books and magazines offer readers a chance to read interesting
stories about the reality of the past. The reality of the past is as
interesting as fiction, and is interesting to read about because the
events depicted actually happened, and helped to build an understanding
about why America is the country it is today.
Short URL: http://osawatominews.com/?p=1006
So true, Grady, and a perfect example of really interesting–downright fascinating–local history is Journeys of Ursuline, which Mildred Haley and Roger Shipman compiled to show the connection between the Ursuline Sisters and Miami County. Instead of the “dry stuff” they used snapshots, yearbooks, scrapbooks, and personal narratives to create a picture of the community interacting with the Sisters. It’s at the historical society or at amazon.