Ever since World War I, superior force is no longer measured in terms of men or horses, but in the means to wreak destruction.
From Saul David
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 way into reading history proper.
I passed the 11-plus, but it was decided that I should take the Common Entrance exam to Monmouth School, the nearest independent. I was never entirely comfortable there, as they didn't have girls, and they played rugby instead of football.
At school, there were more Davids than any other name: more than 20 of us cousins out of 40 pupils. When my older cousins moved on, the school had to close.
When I was six or seven, we went to the nearest English primary school, St Weonards, about seven miles away. The teaching was good, and this was the start of my beginning to shine as a student.
I worked hard at my four-year M.A., but got a 2.1. That was a big disappointment, as I wanted to write about history and thought I needed a First.
The people who read the history books tend to have a natural zeal and are alarmingly well-read.
Those who read the fiction assume that, because I'm also a historian, I know what I'm talking about.
If I'm at a book signing, and someone decides to take me to task, it can make for quite a sticky moment.
No campaign of the First World War better justifies the poets' view of the conflict as futile and pitiless than Gallipoli.
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