Can you guys recommend some good historical fiction authors, a la Caleb Carr or others of his ilk? i've pretty much exhausted most the mystery/suspense/thriller authors. thanks in advance!
Hm, I've been meaning to read Carr for a while now. Patrick O'Brien and Larry McMurtry are both great in the historical fiction subgenres of seafaring and western.
Second O'Brian and McMurtry. Toss in Alan Furst (spy novels set in WWII). Bigsoccer's own Alex Irvine writes historical fantasy. Have you tried the Blind Justice series, by Bruce Alexander?
you could try jeff sahra (i'm sure i mispelt it) who writes historical fiction about civil war and rev war. largely based on fact but "imagines" conversations/interior thoughts of major figures
I spent ages trying to get a book by Caleb Carr that was highly recommended on here. What a let down it was. Leon Uris - Trinity and Redemption are true classics.
I don't read that much historical fiction but I found the following memorable: Aztec - Gary Jennings. The final years of the empire and the coming of Cortez, primarily from the Aztec's viewpoint. The Killer Angels - Michael Shaara. Gettysburg. The author's son Jeffery is also a historical novelist, though not of the same rank. The Last Hurrah - Edwin O'Connor. American urban politics in the 1950s, based on the career of Boston mayor James M Curley. The Leopard - Giuseppe di Lampedusa. Sicily during the Risorgimento and after. Once an Eagle - Anton Myrer. An army officer from World War I to Vietnam. The Winds of War - Herman Wouk. The last years of peace through the eyes of a US naval officer and his family. The Year of the French - Thomas Flanagan. The Irish revolt of 1798.
I don't know how [thick, serious, actually historical] you'd like, but I have enjoyed books by Gore Vidal (the American Chronicle series- a good story with historical figures you'll have heard of, probably), Umberto Eco (kind of like Dan Brown, only not so much for the action audience), and Iain Pears (more like Carr than the others in some respects, but an earlier time period), and I did like Herman Wouk's short series. If you don't require accuracy , there are some fun mystery series...
i have been wanting to read The Plot Against America by Philip Roth, but haven't had a chance... is that too much fiction for the historical junkies?
The only Caleb Carr book I've read is The Alienist. While the depiction of that era of New York was interesting, I was a little bored by it overall.
Doesn't this describe most all Philip Roth (whom I love) books? Endings...not his strong suit. I liked Plot for the way that Lingbergh's election evoked the varied emotions in Roth's family. But the ending was a complete cop out. I think David Liss's A Conspiracy of Paper is a quite good historical mystery. It's set in early 18th century London and concerns murder and the rise of paper currency.
The Rome books my McCullough are, in my opinion, the best historical fiction I've ever read. Although they do decline in quality toward the end as she treats Caesar as some sort of a demigod. I'm surprised he wasn't fighting alien invasions by the last book. The first three books in the series, however, are sublime.
Robert Harris has done a few that the critics like. Whilst set in the present day Archangel is a very good book.
The name of the rose by Eco is probably the most accurate historical fiction I ever read. Beware some get bored by that level of accuracy.
