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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   15969 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026

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I'm broadly aligned with you in this regard. Bad history in historical fiction is a pet peeve of mine. I've always felt that the truth of history is more interesting than the shallow preconceptions we have of it. Writers tend to write what they know, and the result tends to be derivative. Actual history is fresh and exciting precisely because it's so rarely portrayed.

That being said, holding others to an unrealistically high standard isn't going to help you. No one who would write a black Boleyn was ever going to write an honest work of historical fiction, so complaining about what she did write is just a waste of your mental energy.

If you want accurate historical fiction you'll have to write it yourself. Be the change you want to see in the world.

I think I'm just going to stop reading historical fiction, except from authors I know are good (Bernard Cornwell).

If you haven't already read it, I can also heartily recommend Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series as a gold-standard of exhaustively researched historical fiction that never attempts to smuggle in modern points of view. About as authentic a look at Nelson's Royal Navy as you can get without cracking open a real history book (and probably better than half the pop history books you'd find for sale).

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