Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion
2022 Read Harder Challenge
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#22 Read a history about a period you know little about.

Do you think this is supposed to be "historical fiction" - ? Or is the idea that it can be Fiction or Non Fiction?
Apologies if this is a silly question but I don't know what "a histor..."
I studied history at uni and to me "a history" generally means a non-fiction book about a history of a place, people, person, event, etc. etc.



Tricia, good suggestion!

Do you think this is supposed to be "historical fiction" - ? Or is the idea that it can be Fiction or Non Fiction?
Apologies if this is a silly question but I don't..."
I second this. "A history" does not indicate fiction.


Ahh. thanks for the clarification :-)

The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope
Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001John Adams
Lessons In Disaster: McGeorge Bundy And The Path To War In Vietnam
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
The Wright Brothers
Grant
The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz



I listened to this one this year and it was great. The audiobook also has some of the people narrating their own stories.


Do you think this is supposed to be "historical fiction" - ? Or is the idea that it can be Fiction or Non Fiction?
Apologies if this is a silly question but I don't know what "a histor..."
History typically indicates nonfiction, but there are some fiction books that could be considered history - I know this is a juvenile book but magic treehouse comes to mind

1.) I don't read a lot of books on music, hardly any. I just stumbled across this one on a book search for another book challenge and it seemed interesting.
2.) The second book sounded interesting, also on a random book search.
LGBTQ+ books are certainly not in my wheelhouse but that's what will be great in terms of challenging myself.




Thank you for posting your book options. It really helped me out! I'm going to try Escape from Camp 14.

Conversely, for those who dislike history and/or non-fiction, there is University Press� Brief History Of� series, some of which are available on Kindle Unlimited. I grabbed a well-reviewed Brief History of Afghanistan though I have yet to read it.

LOL. This really speaks to me
I wonder if Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China counts? It definitely feels more memoir-ish, but is also a "Sweeping history of..."

Nazi's during the Cold War in a borderland? I didn't even know this thing even happened!
Educating the Enemy: Teaching Nazis and Mexicans in the Cold War Borderlands


I hope you like it. I read it a few years back and it was really good.


That's what I enjoyed too.

Oooh that's a good one and it's been on my TBR for a while actually!

Hope you get to it at some point. I read it over a year ago and it still stayed with me.

[book:The Children's Blizzard is one of the giveaways March 1-31. I saw it this morning.





I hope you like it. I rea..."
Thank you for the rec! I really never got into history, not even fictional history but I love a good true crime story. This sounds perfect for this part of the challenge.


I recommend Gandhi and Churchill: The Epic Rivalry that Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age. I confess it is the only nonfiction book I have read about that era so I can't compare to others, but I can say it was really interesting.

Cool. Yeah, I haven't read it in a while but it stood out and was really good.

Oooh that's a good one an..."
Thank you for recommending this, it was a really good read



I hope you li..."
A little late to reply but Freedom at Midnight would fit this. It's a great story that reads like fiction.


I personally feel like if enough research went into historical fiction it can count as a history, especially if the emphasis is on the period itself. For example, the length of the works cited in Ruta Septys' I Must Betray You makes me feel comfortable counting it as a history, especially since it's at least as much about the Communist period in Romania as it is about the protagonist.

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Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands (other topics)
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Do you think this is supposed to be "historical fiction" - ? Or is the idea that it can be Fiction or Non Fiction?
Apologies if this is a silly question but I don't know what "a history" book is as a genre. . . . .
:-)