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- Damn History | Issue 79 | June 2024
Too often I overlook the readers and writers who want to explore personal histories: memoirs, autobiographies, personal essays, letters, and other forms of writing extracted from experience. They may even make up the majority of people drawn to popular history.
Writing about family and friends can be tough.
When I taught creative writing, students tackling personal histories frequently worried over what their families and friends would think of their writing if it was critical of the people in their lives. My advice was to tell students that writing and publishing are separate endeavors. You should always write what you want, no matter who it might hurt or disturb. Later – much later – if you decide to publish and prepare your manuscript for that stage, you can consider how these important people in your life may react to your words and perhaps make changes.
It’s a troublesome topic. I recently read two perceptive essays that go into the difficulties of writing about family and friends, one by Laurie Hertzel and another by Elle Mar. They give careful thought to this problem, and I recommend them both.
Here in Damn History you'll find, as usual, recommendations on good and popularly accessible historical reading, with tips on writing and links to my own work.
Follow me on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @Jack_ElHai
Contact me at [email protected]
Personal Notes
Read my story about a mother’s investment that vanished in the hands of the King of Red Ink.
For a bountiful collection of my popular-history book, article, and audiobook recommendations, search X (formerly known as Twitter) for the hashtag #popularhistory.
Recent Popular History from All Over
You may find some of these articles behind a paywall if you’ve exceeded the publisher’s allowance of free views.
The Victorian scientist who coined the word “dinosaur” was a divisive figure.
A researcher claims to know what caused calamities for the people cursed after entering King Tut’s tomb.
Brigitte Höss, the wife of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss, gave a final interview before her death.
Why do we so often gather Shakespeare and war in the same thought?
NASA desperately needed good publicity when an astronaut made the first untethered spacewalk.
“The legend of Columbine is fiction.” Dave Cullen writes about the Columbine-Killers Fan Club.
Sporting attire has a fashionable history.
The discovery of surprising love letters illuminates a family’s past.
The actor Anna May Wong led a transnational Chinese resistance during World War II.
There’s a sad state of affairs in Prince’s archival vault.
How the most famous baby in America – one not named Lindbergh – got snatched.
Resources
Create a timeline, plus other tips from Elizabeth Mehren on writing a historical narrative.
This author responded resourcefully when nobody showed up at his book event.
Whatever you write, study this story by Flannery O’Connor to improve your own work.
“Has everyone felt a cervix? Here’s your chance.” How the morally unthinkable comes to pass in medicine.
Look over the finalists for the 2024 Golden Padlock Award, honoring the most secretive public agency or official in the U.S.
“God has given me the tongue, señor. Are you forbidding me to use it?” – novelist A.J. Cronin
Housekeeping
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About me: I'm a writer whose beat is history. I've contributed hundreds of articles to such publications as Smithsonian, The Atlantic, Wired, Scientific American, Discover, GQ, The Washington Post Magazine, Longreads.com, and many others. My books include The Lost Brothers: A Family’s Decades-Long Search, The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness, Non-Stop: A Turbulent History of Northwest Airlines, and The Nazi and the Psychiatrist: Hermann Goering, Dr. Douglas M. Kelley, and a Fatal Meeting of Minds at the End of WW2. I often give presentations to groups of writers, readers, and others.
Please feel free to get in touch.