The following guest post is by author听. Brown听will be one of the keynote speakers for the 听at the听.
I鈥檓 drawn to history, fascinated by it, entranced by it. The chance to immerse myself in a different time has always been irresistible, and not merely for the chance to measure the nuts and bolts of my era against another. History reminds me that a shared humanity transcends time, space, and circumstance. It teaches me that love, hate, generosity, ambition, greed, self-sacrifice, and treachery have spun the windmills of human action forever.
Human nature has been the stock and trade of fiction writers forever; smart narrative history writers embrace it as well. But, you ask, doesn鈥檛 affixing generosity, ambition, greed, self-sacrifice, treachery, or a host of other value-laden labels to events or people obligate the writer to pass judgment, to take sides?
Yes.
While there have been times when nations or people were unequivocally wanton, predatory, or just plain stupid, it is ambiguity that mostly rules the day. Faced with uncertainty, a good history writer鈥攇rounded in the facts, and mindful of nuance鈥攚ill still arbitrate and interpret.
He or she will have a 鈥減oint of view.鈥�
鈥淧ay attention to this! Ignore that! This is my worldview鈥攅mbrace it!鈥� a good history book will proclaim.
The abandonment of New Orleans by local, state, and, especially, the federal government is the unapologetic point of view of my book . It is the main thread running through the text, underscored by illustrations played out in
graphic-novel/comic-book panels.
Point of view stakes out the story on a landscape of moral high and low ground. It entwines the author鈥檚 knowledge and passion with the narrative. It reveals a context that the reader might not have been aware of. Without it, the story is as compelling as a grocery list, and with less utility. The cool part is that the reader doesn鈥檛 have to embrace the book鈥檚 point of view for it to be successful. It can be rejected, as long as the reader is provoked to thought.
And isn鈥檛 that the point of reading?
漏 Don Brown 2016
Don Brown is the author of many widely acclaimed books for children and young people. His graphic novel is one of the most celebrated books of 2016, winning the 听