Chores, Minerals, and Phalanxes: Adding Historical Flavor to Your Fiction

by Xina Marie Uhl

The study of History can be fraught with danger: boring instructors, confused textbook authors who focus on dates more than human beings, and the sheer length of time it takes to adequately ingest and process thousands of years of human existence. Why bother? Because at its core, History is particularly useful to the aspiring fantasy or adventure author.

History is a chain of stories - one after another, each made different by the changing terrain of a culture’s values, technology, religion, geography, medical knowledge, and more. Human beings have adapted to the conditions of their lives in more ways than any one author could possibly conceive. Why not learn from the masters, so to speak?

If you're not ready to reenter the classroom just yet, reading the following carefully screened and eminently readable history books will enhance your storytelling skills by adding a dose of the strangest medicine of all to your writing - reality.

For Those Cross-Country Fantasy Quests

The Prairie Traveler: A Hand-Book for Overland Expeditions
Randolph B. Marcy
© 1859, 252 pages. Applewood Books: Bedford, MA.

Originally published in 1859 by a Captain in the U.S. Army and used for years by pioneers, this book is a fascinating account of the challenges of navigating a wild continent. A sampling of the subjects covered includes: how to supply an expedition, finding and purifying water, preventing stampedes, how to herd mules, setting up a bivouac, making smoke signals, and preserving meat. Numerous pencil-drawn illustrations cover topics such as how to swim a horse - and yourself - across a stream, types of camp chairs and how to construct them, and how to spot landmarks.

The writing style is free-flowing and devoid of convoluted phrasing, and Macy’s attitude toward Native Americans is pleasantly respectful - unlike many other works of the time.

Although this book is currently out-of-print, it is available for free download at www.kancoll.org/books/marcy/. You may also be able to locate it at your public library.

For Those Hand-to-Hand Combat Scenes

The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece
Victor Davis Hanson
© 1989, 244 pages, Alfred A. Knopf: NY.

Focused on "the infantryman in the phalanx at the moment he fought," this book details not only the fear, skill, and comradeship of the individual soldier, but also the Greek innovations that revolutionized warfare. Although Classical Greece may seem like a faraway, irrelevant time, Western civilization would literally not exist as we know it if it weren’t for the Greek contributions to logical thought, government, art, drama, and philosophy - and warfare. This book will not only give you a clearer perspective of the foot soldier - in a compassionate and ultimately touching manner - but also his place in the grander scheme of world history.

In particular, the comparisons between the infantry of ancient times and today will enlighten both noncombatants and recent veterans alike. Although one of Victor Davis Hanson’s later books - Who Killed Homer? - is a hysterical tirade against today’s educational system, don’t let that keep you from reading this treasure.

For Use in Creating Pre-Industrialized Civilizations

The Reshaping of Everyday Life: 1790 - 1840
Jack Larkin
© 1988, 349 pages. Harper & Row: NY.

This book is a detailed, thoroughly-researched look at the realities of life in early America. The difference between it and other histories of the era lies in its focus: The Reshaping of Everyday Life looks at everyday realities: the care of chamber pots and graveyards, the disposal of garbage, the uses of songs and dances, the celebration of holidays, and the manner and aspect of the people. Larkin explains how the circumstances of everyday life influence values and personality. For instance, farmers of that age were a stoic and taciturn lot, hardened by their backbreaking labor and the harshness of a fickle environment.

In the sanitized, orderly society of today, it is often difficult to imagine the circumstances of ages less developed than our own. Today, we take building codes for granted; at the dawn of the new United States, many people didn’t worry too much whether their houses were crooked and ramshackle. This book will help open your eyes to such details in a lively, entertaining fashion.


Salt: A World History
Mark Kurlansky
© 2002, 484 pages, Penguin Books: NY.

Salt is great on French fries, indispensable on popcorn, and without it butter is nothing more than tasteless globs of animal fat. Beyond that, salt has been used as money; during the Middle Ages and as recently as the 20th century, countries like France and India closely regulated their citizens' access to salt the way modern governments monitor counterfeiters. Whole empires rose and fell because of salt.

In a sweeping look at culture after culture, from pre-history to today, Kurlansky details the production, use, and trade of salt. Egyptians were mummified in it. Roman soldiers were paid in it. Whole sections of English towns sunk because of it. Before the advent of refrigeration, salt was literally the only way to preserve meat. And without it, Tabasco sauce wouldn’t exist.

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© Xina Marie Uhl

Xina Marie Uhl is a freelance writer living in Southern California. Visit her website at www.xinamarieuhl.com to learn more about her first novel, the ancient history-inspired fantasy adventure Necropolis. Reflection's Edge's review of Necropolis can be found here.