Historical Novels: The Readers’ Turn

How could that distinguished group of contributors have failed to mention the greatest and most hilarious series of historical novels of all time, the Flashman Papers by George McDonald Fraser? Historically accurate, right down to their footnotes, maps, and appendices, these books tell the tale of Sir Harry Flashman, an engaging anti-hero who manages to be everywhere (from the Charge of the Light Brigade to the Battle of Gettysburg) and meet everyone (from the Duke of Wellington to Kit Carson) in the nineteenth century. Among other highlights in the series, the third volume of the Flashman Papers captures the rustic eloquence of Abraham Lincoln better than anything else I have ever read, fiction or fact.