Originally published in print, December 2021
Popular history has massively influenced the stories we read, the films we watch and much of the content we digest across other media. The division of Shakespeare’s plays into tragedies, comedies and histories shows the relevance of popular history to the stories we enjoy. Retellings of events like the Wars of the Roses and the assassination of Julius Caesar provide the material for some of the most beloved plays in literary history.
But popular history extends beyond fictional retellings of historical events. Non-fictional popular history brings vividly to life the things we were taught in school, things that can come off as irrelevant when learnt through the lens of dry modern scholarship.
Ancient Greek authors of history weren’t constrained by the rules of modern scholarship, where any and all agendas must be done away with, leaving only cold facts. Herodotus didn’t even constrain himself with a linear format. In his Histories, he interrupts his narrative of Persian conquest to provide an ethnology of Egypt, all in order to hammer home the point that the Athenians are far more like the Barbarians they looked down on than they wished to acknowledge. He deploys the dramatic flair customary in the Histories to make this argument, allowing himself to tell fantastical stories in order to bring into focus the bigger picture he is pursuing.
More recent historical scholars of course deserve respect for the work they have done in the field. Works of modern scholarship take the road of avoiding bias and restricting themselves to strict linear narratives in their pursuit for the truth. However, compared to what the ancient writers gave us, they lose some of their flair. This is what makes popular history such a vital genre, as writers of popular history don’t need to constrain themselves. They don’t teach history, but tell it.
Dan Jones launches readers into the medieval worlds of the Templars and the Crusaders, whilst Tom Holland takes us all the way from ancient Rome to the deserts of the Middle East to witness the birth of Islam. Neither of these authors make any effort to present a “scholarly” approach to their subject, instead embracing the drama of the events they’re describing, making characters of people who lived and died, and most importantly, putting readers there.
As humans we embrace drama, allowing ourselves to live and feel through the characters we empathise with. Regardless of scholarly professionalism, there is no way of teaching history that compares to letting the reader experience for themselves how these people may have lived and died. A good example is Heartstone by C.J. Sansom. A fictional historical murder mystery set in 1545, just weeks before the French were expected to invade England, the book provides an account of the accidental sinking of the Mary Rose, a famous warship that tragically sank before any real battle took place. There is no scholarship presented, no case made for the causes, no real “teaching”. But its evocation of the drama of the moment and its emphasis on people lets you empathise with the consequences of the event, the human tragedy, the psychological impact such an event had on the people who experienced it.
Scholars in history tend to look down on popular history as sub-par compared to the professional scholarship studied in classrooms. I remember asking my lecturer about the validity of Barbara Tuchmann’s fantastic A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century as a source, only for him to respond with a disdainful: “That’s popular history”. Now, it would have been inappropriate to use this slightly biased account in a college-level essay. But this scornful attitude neglects the fact that many history students wouldn’t be studying history were it not for the dramatic popular history we first read. I certainly wouldn’t have considered studying Roman history had I not read Mary Beard’s excellent historical retelling of the city, SPQR.
At the end of the day, history is a story still in the making. Yet no one is interested in a story that’s irrelevant, which modern scholarship often is for those not studying history. Few can get invested in history through high-end history books, with all facts presented as they are and any dramatic touch done away with. Popular history deserves recognition not only for the fantastic stories told, but also for the gateway into history it represents, and the chance to experience the story of the past in all its dramatic flair.
