Next time you’re in a bookstore or at your local library, see if you can find a shelf of novels that doesn’t have at least one work of historical fiction on it. I’m willing to wager you’d have a tough time.

The action in ‘A God in Ruins’ brings readers back and forth through time, from the 1920s to 2012, and the events and effects of World War II are central to the plot. With so many modern authors choosing to use the past in general – and that war in particular – as the backdrop for their novels, we got to wondering why. What is it that so appeals to authors, and readers, about bygone eras? And how high are the stakes for getting the history right?

With these questions and others in mind, we called up Stephen Harding. He’s the editor-in-chief of Military History magazine and author of several non-fiction books, the latest of which, ‘Last to Die: A Defeated Empire, a Forgotten Mission, and the Last American Killed in World War II’ hits shelves July 14. 

But before we talked to Stephen, we decided to take a run at coming up with a working definition of historical fiction, which isn’t as straightforward as it seems…

As you heard, we all come down in slightly different places on whether historical fiction compels us to research a period or event. But Chris is right, if you’re reading ‘A God in Ruins’ with us, you’ll want to check out these videos of bomber raids to get a sense of what Teddy Todd saw from his plane:

And let us know if you’re apt to read up on non-fiction accounts of an event you read about in a novel.

Join us next week for the final meeting of the book club, when WAMU’s own Morning Edition host Matt McCleskey is with us to talk about the book head on.