Historical Analysis
Type the paper and use complete sentences for sections A-H.
(Accepted only for books read completely and with understanding)
Book title
Author
Major classification: Fiction (the author acknowledges that some elements are imagined)
OR
Non-fiction (the author claims that all is true and accurate)
Type: (see suggestions in chart below)
Fiction (author says that some elements are imagined)
Adventure (action story)
Romance (plot centers on love relationship)
Mystery (elements remain unknown or unexplained until the end)
Thriller (designed to arouse feeling of suspense)
Coming of Age (focus on youth or young adult growth and maturation)
Historical Fiction. A story with imagined elements set in a recognizable period of history. It may tell the stories of ordinary people's lives; it may also involve political or social events of the time. Characters may be real or imagined.
Biographical fiction. The story focuses on the life story of a main character who actually lived. It is a blend of biographical research and imagined elements.
Nonfiction (author says all is true and accurate)
Primary source. Typically letters, journals, memoirs, or autobiographies written by the author (with perhaps the help of a ghost writer) about things they experience in their time. Historians like them because they give an inside view about a particular situation or event.
Secondary Source. Typically secondary sources are informative books written about a wide scope of history (textbook) or narrow such as the life of a person (biography) or the history an event or time period. They are purported to be true and verifiable by the author. It is one or more steps removed from the event.
Paper should be typed Times New Roman, size 12 font, double spaced with no extra space before or after each line. Submit to D2L drop box.
a) Historical elements in the book.
Discuss the time period.
Real historical events.
Real people, etc., mentioned in the book.
b) A detailed summary of the book.
c) Discuss the author's message. Choose Fiction or Nonfiction depending on your book.
For Fiction: Which elements of the book seemed realistic to you?
Which were imagined and why?
Explain your answers in detail with examples.
For Nonfiction: Explain the authors' motivations for writing the story.
Who is their audience?
What are their attitudes and biases?
Provide detailed examples.
d) What were the author's sources of historical information? Please be as specific as possible about where the author got their information and how you know this. Also discuss the extent to which they included documentation of their sources in their work. (Look at other features of the book such as the author's notes, acknowledgments, etc. for information. You may need to search outside of the book for more information about the author.)
e) Explain your recommendation of this book to a history student? (You may want to consider interest level, writing style, information included, etc.)
f) Explain your recommendation of this book to a historian (consider the importance of the topic, extent to which the author has included multiple sources and documented sources so that information can be corroborated)
g) What came to mind as you read the book? Questions or thoughts?
h) Thinking about a historical question or topic to research what would you want to investigate further?
OR
i) A historical question or topic from events that will be covered in your history course.