North America

[Misfit]

I'll start. My fav's (so far),

Jubilee Trail, Calico Palace and Celia Garth by Gwen Bristow
My Theodosia and The Winthrop Woman, Anya Seton
Oh Kentucky! and Kentucky Home by Betty Layman Receveur (a bit romance oriented)
Western Passage TJ Hansen
Gone with the Wind
Shadowbrook Beverly Swerling
The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters Robert Lewis Taylor (a Pulitzer Prize winner)

[Divia]

The Heretic's Daughter: A Novel by Kathleen Kent
Mr. Emerson's Wife by Amy Belding Brown
On Agate Hill: A Novel by Lee Smith
Cane River by Lalita Tademy (dont be scared that its an Oprah book ;) )
An Inconvenient Wife by Megan Chance
Gatsby's Girl by Caroline Preston

[Leyland]

Sacajawea by Anna Lee Waldo. I've never read it, but probably will one day. It's a long one at more than 1300 pages and maybe the only novel I might have to read in two or three parts as if they were sequels.

[Margaret]

Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove
Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind

But this is a huge category - I've probably forgotten a lot of old favorites.

[diamondlil]

Sara Donati's Into the Wilderness series

Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove series.

[MLE]

Some really good western and Native American-themed HF
From Sea to Shining Sea by James Alexander Thom
Follow the River, same author.
Ride the Wind, Lucia St. Clair Robson
These is my Words, the Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine by Nancy Turner
Blood Brother by Eliott Arnold -- about the Apache Chief Cochise. Hard to find, but worth it.
The Big Sky, Guthrie
YA: Sign of the Beaver, Elizabeth George Speare
The Man who Rode Midnight, can't remember the author
And who could forget Louis L'Amor and his invincible, ever-resourceful Sackett clan?

[Leyland]

Some really good western and Native American-themed HF .... Ride the Wind, Lucia St. Clair Robson


I've read it a couple times and consider it one of the best novels I've read, for as much the extremely interesting story of Cynthia Ann Parker as for the excellent storytelling skills of Lucia St Clair Robson. She gives incredible details to this story set among the native American plains culture as well as giving wonderful care and quality to many of the characters. She makes many of them all personally appealing in their daily lives and I've loved getting into this story. She does give it a realistic vision and I found the same in reading another of her novels based on a true life, Fearless, about Sarah Bowman set in Texas.

[dbrady10@msn.com]

Divia, I see you've read The Heretic's Daughter: A Novel by Kathleen Kent. It just came out, didn't it? It's on my TBR, obviously you liked it as it's on your list. I loved Cane River, have you read her 2nd book, Red River? I have it but haven't read it yet.

[Divia]

I havent read Heretic's Daughter yet. I was throwing it out there as an American book. I have it on hold at the library though :)

I picked up Red River today becuase it was on a discount stack. I thought about buying it but didn't. I did enjoy Cane River though.

[LCW]

I liked Cane River too but not sure if I want to read any more by that author. I thought the characters were fascinating but I didn't feel like it was a really well rounded novel. Sometimes it just seemed like she was reciting what happened to the characters rather than really telling a story.

[Divia]

It was so long ago I dont remember. Though I do know some people are turned off becuase its an Oprah book.

[Calgal]

How about Cold Mountainby Charles Frazier or Louise Erdrich's work like Tracks and The Beet Queen?

[Cuchulainn]

C.C. Humphrey's "Jack Absolute" books are good read.

[Calgal]

Though not exactly historical, Water for Elephants astonishes as it recreates both the traveling circus and depression era America with flashes forward to modern times. Sara Gruen's work is both imaginative and gripping, full of action, satire, and nostalgia. Pretty much the most enjoyable historical I have read since The Girl with the Pearl Earring with its combination of grittiness and lyricism.

[diamondlil]

I loved that book! I will post my review of it when I get home tonight (if I remember)

[Margaret]

I consider Water for Elephants to be historical. The author was not born at the time when the novel is set, during the Depression, so had to write it from research. My favorite thing about that novel was the portrayal of the elephants. Loved them!

[Leyland]

Robert Morgan has written novels worth discovering.

"Morgan is among the relatively few American writers who write about work knowledgeably, and as if it really matters. . . . You begin to feel, as you sometimes do when reading Cormac McCarthy's or Harry Crews' early novels, that the author has been typing with blood on his hands and a good deal of it has rubbed off onto your shirtsleeves. . . .his stripped-down and almost primitive sentences burn with the raw, lonesome pathos of Hank William's best songs." The New York Times Book Review, Dwight Garner

Gap Creek is probably his most well known:

Gap Creek - Appalachian life works in fire, flood, swindlers, sickness, and starvation--a truly biblical assortment of plagues, all visited on the sturdy shoulders of 17-year-old Julie Harmon. "Human life don't mean a thing in this world," she concludes. And who could blame her? "People could be born and they could suffer, and they could die, and it didn't mean a thing.... The world was exactly like it had been and would always be, going on about its business." For Julie, that business is hard physical labor. Fortunately, she's fully capable of working "like a man"--splitting and hauling wood, butchering hogs, rendering lard, planting crops, and taking care of the stock. Even when Julie meets and marries handsome young Hank Richards, there's no happily-ever-after in store. Nothing comes easy in Julie Harmon's world, and their first year together is no exception.

Throughout the novel, Morgan chronicles Julie's trials in prose of great dignity and clarity, capturing the rhythms of North Carolina speech by using only the subtlest of inflections. Clearly the author has done his research too--the descriptions of physical labor practically leap off the page. (Suffice to say, you'll learn far more about hog slaughtering than you ever dreamed of knowing.) Yet he resists the temptation to make his long-suffering characters into saints. Julie simmers with resentment at being her family's workhorse, and Hank flies into a helpless rage whenever he feels that his authority is questioned. In novels like The Truest Pleasure and The Hinterlands, Morgan proved his ability to create memorable heroines. In Gap Creek, he writes with great feeling--but not a touch of sentimentality--about a life Julie aptly calls "both simple and hard." --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Other titles:

Boone: A Biography
The Truest Pleasure
This Rock

[Divia]

There's also
1,000 white women (which has been sitting on my shelf for over ayear now)

I too would consider Water for Elephants HF.

[Misfit]

I just finished a series by Celeste De Blasis and while strictly considered romance her historical research and details step her books up a notch or two. Starting in England early 19C the three books cover the family's move to Maryland, buying a farm and raising horses to race, events leading up to and through the Civil War and it's aftermath. The last book details the events after the war, the suffrage movement, labor strikes and more. The series in order,

Wild Swan
Swan's Chance
A Season of Swans

[Divia]

hmm. Do you think I would enjoy it?

[Misfit]

hmm. Do you think I would enjoy it?

You just might. Some of the sex is a bit too much for me (but you can skip it). Each one is 500 + pages so be warned, but she really covers a lot of US history in an almost 100 year period, and it was interesting setting her characters in Maryland which was a border state during the Civil War and her characters were very anti-slavery. I've got reviews posted on Amazon if you're interested.

She's got another I just read set in San Francisco and Washington Territory that I really enjoyed, plus one set in old California that I'm going to start soon. Most of her books can be picked up pretty cheaply at Abe (http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=Celeste+Deblasis&sts=t&x=39&y=23) if you can get them at the lib or ILL.

[Divia]

Maybe this is a loaner from the lib.

Hmm, how accurate is she when it comes to the historical details. And yes I'd like a link to your review. ;)

[Misfit]

Maybe this is a loaner from the lib.

Hmm, how accurate is she when it comes to the historical details. And yes I'd like a link to your review. ;)

Give a try for a loaner, if they tell you no tell them to get linked with King County (http://www.kcls.org/)-- I know I've received ILL's from as far away as New Hampshire and Oklahoma -- and no shipping charges either. I would assume they reciprocate in kind and KCLS does have quite a catalog, including these three books.

Reviews,

Wild Swan (http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Swan-Celeste-Blasis/dp/0553249371/ref=cm_cr-mr-title)
Swan's Chance (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553172522/ref=cm_cr_asin_lnk)
A Season of Swans (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000P8L97U/ref=cm_cr_asin_lnk)

As far accuracy it seemed well researched to me and I didn't spot any gaffes, but then it's not my period as it is yours. I've read another of her's, The Tiger's Woman (http://www.amazon.com/Tigers-Woman-Celeste-Blasis/dp/038529042X/ref=cm_pdp_rev_itm_title)set in old San Francisco and Washington Territory which is more in my neck of the woods and she sure seemed to have a good working knowledge of the areas and the logging and banking industry at the time. It's not a casual writer who would have such an extensive knowledge of the founding fathers of Seattle, let alone the San Juan Islands.

Another interesting series I came across recently you might look at. Yes, they are romance but again she packed a lot history of the US post Civil War leading up to the 1890's. I learned a whole lot more about Grant's presidency then I ever did anywhere else. Out of print but at a penny a book what the heck. Author is Patricial Gallagher.

Castles in the Air (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0380005700/ref=cm_cr_asin_lnk)No Greater Love (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0380447436/ref=cm_cr_asin_lnk)
On Wings of Dreams (http://www.amazon.com/Wings-Dreams-Patricia-Gallagher/dp/0425074463/ref=cm_cr-mr-title)

Helpful votes always appreciated :D:p:)

[chuck]

Some really good western and Native American-themed HF
From Sea to Shining Sea by James Alexander Thom
Follow the River, same author.
Ride the Wind, Lucia St. Clair Robson
These is my Words, the Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine by Nancy Turner
Blood Brother by Eliott Arnold -- about the Apache Chief Cochise. Hard to find, but worth it.
The Big Sky, Guthrie
YA: Sign of the Beaver, Elizabeth George Speare
The Man who Rode Midnight, can't remember the author
And who could forget Louis L'Amor and his invincible, ever-resourceful Sackett clan?

MLE.....I think "The Man Who Rode Midnight" was written by the great western author Elmer Kelton.....

[chuck]

Very difficult to choose...so many favorites.....

Kenneth Roberts.....
Northwest Passage
Arundel
Rabble in Arms
Oliver Wiswell
lydia Bailey

Neil Swanson....
Unconquered

Virginia Bernard....
Durable Fire

Howard Fast....
April Morning

Steven Harrigan......
Gates of the Alamo

McKinley Mackantor......
Andersonville
Spirit Lake

Thomas Berger...
Little Big Man

Steven Le May...
The Searchers

[Spitfire]

I'm a fan of James Alexander Thom. My favorite is Follow the River. They even made a terrible "made for tv" movie of his novel, which I had to buy just because. Ha, ha!

[Divia]

Enemy Woman..just bought it today.

[Leyland]

Here's a link to Jimmy Carter's Revolutionary era novel The Hornet's Nest. I still have it on my TBR shelf, so I can't really recommend it or not to anyone at this time. http://www.amazon.com/Hornets-Nest-Novel-Revolutionary-War/dp/0681290811/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221933841&sr=1-5

I noticed a lack of customer reviews, so maybe no one else has read it!

[Lady of the Forest]

Though not exactly historical, Water for Elephants astonishes as it recreates both the traveling circus and depression era America with flashes forward to modern times. Sara Gruen's work is both imaginative and gripping, full of action, satire, and nostalgia. Pretty much the most enjoyable historical I have read since The Girl with the Pearl Earring with its combination of grittiness and lyricism.

I have recently finnished Water For Elephants and it is an amazing book. I thought it was just brillaint, and I thought the author really brought the chracters to life. It was so moving.

I really need to read Girl with the Peral Earing. But the movie came out before I could get around to reading the book and I wanted to see the moive, and well I always end up putting off reading books when I see the movie first.

[Misfit]

I finished The Proud Breed by Celeste De Blasis and posted a review here (http://www.historicalfictiononline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5237#post5237). For those interested in old California it's worth checking out.

[Alex Worthy]

Here's a link to Jimmy Carter's Revolutionary era novel The Hornet's Nest. I still have it on my TBR shelf, so I can't really recommend it or not to anyone at this time. http://www.amazon.com/Hornets-Nest-Novel-Revolutionary-War/dp/0681290811/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221933841&sr=1-5

I noticed a lack of customer reviews, so maybe no one else has read it!


I couldn't finish it. Very dull writing.

Cornwell's Starbuck series (Civil war) is good. At least the first two books I read were.

Billy Gadache by Loren Estleman is good
Little Big Man (previously mentioned) is excellent
Lonesome Dove by McMurty (though I didn't like the others in the series)

[Ash]

I am starting up a non fiction history that might intrigue people, esp if you are interested in pre-columbian America. Painter in a Savage Land is about Jacques de Moyne de Morgues, the first European artist to reach the New World (in Florida). I read about him in Tony Horwitz's fantastic book A Voyage Long and STrange, and glad I will be able to read more about him. The illustrations of this mans work are worth the book itself.



[URL="http://www.amazon.com/Painter-Savage-Land-Strange-European/dp/1400061202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228675563&sr=1-1"]\

[MrsMorland]

My all time favorite is Massachusetts by Nancy Zaroulis. It's a family saga that starts with the settlement of Plymouth and follows one family all the way through the 1970's. I have not read it in a few years, so maybe I'll dust it off soon!
http://www.amazon.com/Massachusetts-Nancy-Zaroulis/dp/0449905861/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228684362&sr=1-1

[princess garnet]

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich wrote a Civil War trilogy and another novel about Pearl Harbor.

[Margaret]

Gingrich had a co-author. I was more impressed before I found that out. Gettysburg got good reviews, though I haven't read it yet.

[Ash]

You mean a ghost writer? That seems to happen more often than not these days.

BTW does anyone know if Obama had a ghost writer for his books? I heard this and it sounds plausible, but he is such a good speech writer I really doubt it. Any good links?

[Ludmilla]

I don't think you'd call the co-author of Gingrich's book a ghost writer. He's given credit on the front cover of the book (William Forstchen). It's actually alternate history that imagines what would have happened if the Confederates had won at Gettysburg. I haven't read it, though.

Don't know about Obama's book. It wouldn't surprise me if he'd had a ghost writer (and I don't mean that negatively; it's not an uncommon practice for those types of books, I presume).

[Margaret]

No, Obama did not have a ghost writer. He wrote Dreams from my Father before he was ever a household name or had any money to speak of to pay a ghost writer. If you've read it - it's obvious he didn't need one!

I'm not sure if Forstchen was credited on the first edition of Gettysburg, but he's getting full credit now for all the novels he and Gingrich co-wrote, so he would be a co-author, not a ghost writer.

[Ariadne]

In many of the novels that Gingrich/Forstchen co-wrote, Albert S. Hanser is listed as a contributing editor on the title page, though not on the front cover. It's interesting to see how many people played a part in writing those books!

[love_uk]

James Michener's Centennial

all of Jeff & Michael Shaara's books

[Misfit]

A friend at Goodreads made an awesome find via a providential swap at Goodreads. The book is called Lily Cigar by Tom Murphy and virtually lost to oblivion. Lily Malone is orphaned and sent to St. Paddy's orphanage until old enough to take a position as maid in a wealthy New York household. Eventually seduced by the young master and preggers she's shipped off to a new life in California. Can't say much more, but life's twists set her up in the world's oldest profession and she's the highest priced one in town.

Not seamy/steamy at all, and Lily is one of the most endearing, engaging characters I've come across in a long time. Yes, she's a good Irish catholic girl but not in a sugary sweet way that will have you grinding your teeth either.

An awesome read, and Karla and I have been pimping it all over Goodreads and Amazon so copies are getting scarce. Libraries still have it though.