Major funding for backstories provided by an anonymous donor, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation.

From Virginia Humanities, this is Backstory.

Welcome to Backstory, the show that explains the history behind today's headlines. I'm Nathan Connolly.

I'm Ed Ayers. I'm Joanne Freeman. And I'm Brian Ballow.

If you're new to the podcast, where the heck have you been?

Actually, just getting, we're really glad you're here.

Each week, we explore a different part of American history, non-packetopic that's been in the news.

This week, we wanted to revive an annual favorite, the Backstory Holiday Book Show.

It's our chance to tell you what we've been reading lately and what we've been inspired by over the last year.

This year, we wanted to focus on a particular genre, historical fiction.

And what better time than now when audiences are anxiously awaiting a new film adaptation of Louisa Mae Alcuts,

beloved 1868 novel, Little Women.

The story of the four March sisters has already been adapted for the silver screen six times.

And this latest version is set to hit theaters on Christmas Day.

It comes along with a bunch of recent and upcoming history movies, including Harriet, a Hidden Life, and Midway.

Meanwhile, in the world of books, readers have been drawn to historical fiction by a range of authors, including Marlon James, Hillary Mantell, and S.E. Adougan.

These are authors exploring everything from post-independence Jamaica to Tudor, England.

For many people, historical fiction is a chance to read or watch a compelling story and learn a little bit about the past.

But when it comes to these fictions, how much does historical accuracy matter?

How useful are novels and movies for teaching history, and how much license does an author have to make stuff up?

We'll get into these questions a little bit later, but first, I can't wait. I want to hear what my friends want to recommend to our listeners.

So, folks, I want to recommend a book that's considered to be one of the 100 most important novels of the 20th century by Time Magazine.

...