Historical Fiction Ideas ...

Goodreads provides tons of ideas and lists if you are looking for historical fiction. One highly recommended title is last year’s WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by debut author Delia Owens, set in the mid-twentieth century along the North Carolina coast and combining mystery and historical fiction. Here are a couple of other more recent publications, both of which have some ties to Chicago:

THE WOMEN OF THE COPPER COUNTRY by Mary Doria Russell (The Sparrow) offers a fictionalized account of an actual miners’ strike from 1913-1914 in Calumet, Michigan on the Upper Peninsula.  Here, real life Anna Klobuchar Clemenc (called Annie Clements in the novel) heads the local Women's Auxiliary No. 15 of the Western Federation of Miners and supports efforts by workers to unionize for better conditions.  At the time, James MacNaughton was President and General Manager of the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company; he is portrayed as bigoted (“how long, he wonders, before the entire American workforce is undermined and replaced by nihilists and hoodlums?”) and more concerned about efficiency than safety or personal relationships. It is a classic confrontation and there is much hardship for the miners and their families, including the infamous Italian Hall disaster where over seventy adults and children died in a stampede. The content of THE WOMEN OF THE COPPER COUNTRY is moving and some Junior Theme researchers might find this book inspirational if they are looking at labor unrest and strikes in the United States, but Russell’s choice of an omniscient point of view makes the characters seem distant to me. Russell should be acknowledged for her efforts to chronicle the story of a strong woman whose courage has been largely forgotten despite Clemenc being inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame.

ASSASSIN OF SHADOWS by Lawrence Goldstone is a new mystery story set in 1901 and centered on the assassination of President McKinley near Buffalo. Harry Swayne is a Secret Service agent who, along with his subordinate Walter George, is ordered to lead the federal investigation. I liked the historical references which definitely made me curious about that era and its politicians and influencers such as Ohioan Mark Hanna. 

Readers will no doubt reflect on attitudes from that time towards police and security forces, conspiracy theories, and also about dissent and free speech since anarchists are presumed to have been involved. However, I found the relationship between Harry and Walter to be very strained and uncomfortable. They frequently trade veiled insults and almost come to blows: “Walter swatted Harry’s finger away. He often wondered if the two of them went at it, who would be left standing at the end.” That made it more difficult to empathize with these characters, although ASSASSIN OF SHADOWS did receive a starred review from Publishers Weekly. I would more heartily recommend earlier works - Used and Rare and/or Slightly Chipped - by Goldstone and his wife, Nancy.

Hope Rides Again by Andrew Shaffer and MacTrump by Doescher

Does it feel as though the news is indeed stranger than fiction? Or, are you like a friend of mine who says, "I just don’t read the news any more – can’t do it.” Either way, here are two very funny texts which will hopefully give you a smile and a bit of escape:

HOPE RIDES AGAIN by Andrew Shaffer is the second title in his satirical mystery series featuring fictionalized Obama and Biden. The first, best-seller Hope Never Dies, was a 2018 Goodreads Choice Award Finalist. This new whodunit is set in Chicago which makes for added fun as the two characters race around town and out on Lake Michigan. They encounter Rahm Emanuel, of course, and there’s also talk about Michelle’s meeting with Oprah.  Many of the adventures are definitely over the top as narrator Biden makes some crazy choices, opting, for example, to navigate the steam tunnels below the University of Chicago.  But Shaffer uses the madcap activity to frame some amusing witticisms: “The tunnel was lit with flickering emergency bulbs. This is where democracy dies, I thought. In darkness.” Here are a couple of other favorite observations: “He droned on. There wasn’t any way to get a word in when Barack Obama was in professor mode.” Or “I’d never been able to get a feel for the city.  I liked New York style pizza with thin crust; I liked my politics free of corruption. … we weren’t just up against criminals – we had a whole damned city to contend with. A city that didn’t put ketchup on hot dogs.” Recently reviewed in The Washington Post, HOPE RIDES AGAIN is a quick read and a welcome diversion. Enjoy!

 
MacTRUMP by Ian Doescher won’t be formally published until October first, but put it on your to be read list, especially if you appreciated his William Shakespeare’s Star Wars books, where Doescher used meter and verse to recreate the Star Wars saga as Elizabethan drama with titles like The Empire Striketh Back and The Jedi Doth Return.  In this new book, described by the publisher as a “tragicomic tale of ambition, greed, and ineptitude,” MacTrump has surprisingly succeeded to the throne and seeks to govern with advisors like Stephen Bannox, plus offspring Desdevanka, Donnison, and Erikson. He enters to acclaim (“A-thump! A-thump! A-thump! Here comes McTrump!”), but the streets of Washingtown are soon filled with protestors: “’Tis the daughters of the Fiefdoms pleading for the right./For the right!/Raise the flag and plant the standard, Wave the signal still!/Wave it still.” Like Shakespeare's own work, this parody contains pithy phrases, humorous allusions and appeals to universal emotions.