The title question becomes a rabbit-hole through which we tumble in search of an answer, encountering everyone from Herodotus to Humphrey Bogart along the way. Is History Fiction? is an invaluable guide on how to weld creative thinking and sound research into meaningful history, and how to understand the different arguments that have abounded throughout time regarding the nature of history. More than a book of theory about theory, this innovative work is an asset to the undergraduate classroom and the (...) research seminar alike. Is History Fiction? will be a welcome aid for teaching historical writing and examining an age-old question. Is History Fiction? is a must-read for undergraduate and graduate students and scholars from the humanities and social sciences, or anyone grappling with the enduring issues that have shaped the theory and practice of recording history. (shrink)

While The Second Sex is usually taken as Simone de Beauvoir's major theoretical contribution to feminism, in the 1960s and 1970s it was very often through her autobiographies – especially Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter, The Prime of Life, and Force of Circumstance, along with novels such as She Came to Stay and The Mandarins – that her feminist ideas were most thoroughly absorbed. The autobiographies became nothing less than a guide for the fashioning of a new kind of feminine (...) self. Where The Second Sex had intimated that a significant aspect of human liberation lay in women not losing their identity or their sense of self in those of men, it was the autobiographies which suggested and demonstrated in great detail how this might be done. In them, the rejection of conventional marriage and children was no mere slogan, but the foundation of what seemed to young female readers to be a fascinating and challenging life. In this paper, I reflect on de Beauvoir and her historical and contemporary relevance: first through reminiscence and re-reading of the autobiographies themselves; then with an historical examination of how they were read, taking Sydney, Australia, as my example; and finally by offering some reflections on subsequent feminist critique. (shrink)

This book offers great advice to writers, such as: • how much research is necessary? • when should you start writing? • should you structure your work chronologically or thematically? • how do you write a compelling narrative?