History is something you don’t mess with. Or, at least, you shouldn’t. Something happened. Whatever it was, it was in the past and cannot be changed. People living in the present need to know what happened in the past, so historians document and teach history. If what a person communicates did not happen as told, then it is fiction. If historic events happened precisely as told, but the narrator depicts undisclosed motives, thoughts, or words of the participants, then it remains fiction. History is an attributed description of what happened; fiction is storytelling. Storytelling is powerful. Philip Pullman said, “Thou shall not is soon forgotten, but Once upon a time lasts forever.” War and Peace , Uncle Tom's Cabin , Gone with the Wind , Animal Farm , Les Misérables , The Pillars of the Earth and many more attest to Pullman’s wisdom. Presenting history as a story leaves an enduring impression on the reader's mind. It should be the correct impression. This is why the historic...