History in the remaking:

[jrittenhouse]

Query: Your favorite historical novel, and why?

If I had to pick a series, I’d say it would be Colleen McCullough’s “Masters of Rome” series.  Fantastically well-researched, and a great read.  Just picked up on remainder the last book - on Antony and Cleopatra.

Comments

[samwinolj]

I don't read a lot of historical fiction, though it's more due to a lack of time that a lack of appreciation. That said, Mary Renault's Last of the Wine blew my tiny little mind when I read it as a college freshman.

I must read it again, some day. Maybe after I get around to reading Kagan's Peloponnesian War.

[aisb23]

If you can find a copy, try Renault's Praise Singer. It's about Greek poet Simonides of Keos, and by extension Harmodios and Aristeigon.

I stumbled upon it when I was working on an Israeli kibbutz and was desperate for English reading material. I too was stunned by her writing.

[wcg]

I'm a big fan of the Masters of Rome too. That series has done more to create interest in Roman reenactment than anything else, including the movie Gladiator.

That said, if I had to pick just one historical novel, I'd want Harold Lamb's Alexander of Macedon.

[jrittenhouse]

Aigh! You just reminded me of a great favorite (and the one I would have listed as my single favorite if I'd thought of it...)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creation_(novel)

I agree with the ALIENIST / Roosevelt reference...

[aisb23]

While Gore Vidal favorites are Burr and Julian.

[scarfman]

I like all of Vidal's. I've read (or listened in audiobook) to the McCullough series too, though I don't think I started at the beginning and last I looked there wasn't anything past the Civil War between Caesar and Pompey. I should look again.

[drawshad]

wow... that's a hard question. The one that pops into my head is considerably less cerebral. I would have to say Gone with the Wind. Maybe it's a girl thing, but in our house there has always been a fascination with the Civil War (my dad is a military historian with a predilection for the period) and Margaret Mitchell's novel is not a fantasized depiction of Civil War era Atlanta. It's also nice to have a serious work of historical fiction presented from a female point of view.

That being said, everytime I read it, I skip chapter 2 :)

[jrittenhouse]

*chuckle* I read it a long time ago, and thought it was a lot better than I expected it to be.

[popebuck1]

That's easy - I, Claudius and its sequel Claudius The God by Robert Graves. I realize they're probably more myth-making than "history," strictly speaking - but God, I love them dearly.

[jrittenhouse]

I do too. Love the series, of course.