Able Quote by Oliver Harris

History is a capricious creature. It depends on who writes it.

— Mikhail Gorbachev

We've all faced the charge that our novels are history lite, and to some extent, that's true. Yet for some, historical fiction is a…

— Saul David

Writers are historians, too. It is in literature that the greater truths about a people and their past are found.

— F. Sionil Jose

To write history is as important as to make history. It is an unchanging truth that if the writer does not remain true to…

— Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

Fiction is ideally suited to re-creating the important emotional aspects of history.

— Alix Kates Shulman

“there are two different ways of writing history: one is to persuade men to virtue and the other is to compel men to truth.”

— Robert Graves

The writing of history is largely a process of diversion. Most historical accounts distract attention from the secret influences behind great events.

— Frank Herbert

If you're writing something that's clearly labelled as an alternative history, of course it's perfectly legitimate to play with known historical characters and events,…

— Diana Gabaldon

When you have a novel set in a fictional history, you still should get your history right.

— Kurt Busiek

History has rewritten itself so many times I'm not really sure how it was to begin with -- it's a bit like trying to…

— Jasper Fforde

“Recent fads in history and biography have increasingly exalted the aridity of chronology and fact, and have, with some valid reason, rejected romanticizing and…

— Markham Shaw Pyle

I actually do think the history is so epic that it actually kind of writes itself.

— David Talbot