Mark Bernstein is chief scientist of Eastgate Systems, Inc.
These important books offer a variety of perspectives on historical narrative. They suggest many new directions for hypertext, some familiar and others almost completely unexplored.
Many of the titles described here are out of print, out of stock at the publisher, or hard to find. Many of the rest are short-discount, making them hard to find in stores. The situation, which reflects much of what is wrong with print technology, is deeply disturbing.
I can't resist recommending these books, which have all influenced my thinking on writing and narrative. Their immediate connection to hypertext sometimes seems distant, but I hope that hypertext writers (and readers) may find these titles rewarding and useful. Eastgate doesn't stock the books described here; for some, we do provide convenient links for ordering them through amazon.com. Because many of these books are special order or hard to find, we make little or no money selling them.
The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction
by Ed Ayers
Order your copy: $13.56
Ayers reconnects modern historical writing with the tradition of narrative
grace in this astounding, innovative book. He threads together a multitude
of contemporary quotations, sticking close to the evidence and yet somehow
weaving that evidence into a memorable and convincing story.
Even those who have little interest in Southern history will marvel at
the dexterity of this remarkable volume. Nominated for the National Book Award.
Leyte: June 1944-January 1945
(History of the United States Naval Operations in World War Two, vol. 12)
by Samuel Eliot Morison
Order your copy: $35.00
A prominent Harvard professor, presidential confidant, and historian of
the age of sail, Morison was summoned during WW2 to compile a massive
official history of US Naval Operations. This volume is part of a monumental
series, all detailed, technical, and judicious despite the overwhelming mass
of material to be assessed and weighed.
The political pressures Morison faced in compiling these volumes
must have been overwhelming. The technical communications problems, too, are
daunting, for these books would have been immediately pored over by admirals
and seamen and the daughters of lost sailors of all nations, each sensitive
to unjust slights and each knowing their own private truth. Incredibly, the
pressure almost never shows.
Making History
by Stephen Fry
Order your copy: $23.00
A realist novel about a grad student in Oxford whose topic is Hitler's
childhood. He detests Hitler and doesn't much care for grad school, and
things could be going better with his girl. One day, he changes history.
And everything....is different.
Literate, profound, and fun. (I stumbled across this book accidentally one
day at Heathrow, and for months afterward never met anyone else who has heard of it.)
The Origins of the Peloponnesian War
by G.E.M. de Ste. Croix
out of print
Marxist history, done right. Brilliantly right.
Between the Fall of Communism and the shoddy pseudo-Marxist polemics
that fill some academic 'zines, it's easy to forget the importance of
class to history. G.E.M. de Ste. Croix handles the evidence
judiciously but always with concern for and understanding of the forces
of history.
The Crisis of Parliaments: English History, 1509-1660
by Conrad Russell
Order your copy: $23.00
A concise narrative history of England, from Elizabeth I
through the Civil War. Accessible, detailed, and
a delight to read; one of the few histories that I
continue to reread regularly, almost twenty years after
I first made its acquaintance.
Roman Ostia
by Russell Meiggs
Order your copy (if you can: it has been out of stock)
A fascinating, intricate, lively study of one Roman town, the
Roman port city of Ostia, by one of the greatest English
classicists of the century. Meiggs masterfully combines
archaeology, history, epigraphy, literary evidence, and
common sense to bring this ancient town to life.
This isn't a matter of storytelling or trickery of the 'Everyday Life'
mold. Meiggs gets the job done through attention to detail, close
observation, and sticking to what we see. He works, in short, exactly
the way John Gardner's Art Of Fiction urges writers
to craft novels. (You can order Art Of Fiction too,
if you need a copy, for $8.80)
Less accessible to the casual reader but equally wonderful is
Meigg's masterwork, The Athenian Empire. You can
order a copy here while you wait for Oxford to reprint Ostia.
Also superb is Lionel Casson's Travel In The Ancient World.
Order it for $15.95.
Lee's Lieutenants: A Study in Command
Gettysburg to Appomattox (volume 3)
by Douglas Southall Freeman
Order your copy: $18.40
The Civil War, volume 3
From Red River to Appotomax
Shelby Foote
Order your copy: $19.20
If Russell's Crisis Of Parliaments is an epitome of concise historical
narrative, Foote and Freeman represent the opposite pole. Engaging,
intricate, detailed and sprawling, these wonderful multi-volume works
interweave dozens of narrative threads and hundreds of primary characters.
Yet even the casual student of the period cannot fail to see how much material
Foote and Freeman omit, how they situate their point of view and
craft their argument to let them brush aside those threads
that run outside the frame. In time, we may hope that hypertext
will give historians an even broader and
more manageable canvas. In the interim, the techniques of these
vast histories stand as examples not only for historians,
but even more for serious journalists and fiction writers.
I meant to recommend the third volume Douglas Southall Freeman's
wonderful biography of Robert E. Lee. But it, too, is out of stock at the
publisher or out of print.
Prices are subject to change. Not responsible for typographic errors.
The books on this page are offered in association with amazon.com.
