Damn History, a popular-history newsletter
Here’s a recent issue of Damn History, my free monthly newsletter for readers and writers of popular history. Follow this link to subscribe.
I have published Damn History since 2018. It features links to great popular-history articles, resources for people who read and write history, and updates on my own work.
Several years ago I wanted to write about Sea Monkeys, those tiny brine shrimp in comic book ads of the 1960s and ’70s who could dance, wear sunglasses, have picnics, and raise happy families. I tried a few different approaches to the writing that didn’t work well. Then I decided to write it in the form of a personal essay, a genre of creative nonfiction. That worked.
Some people have a low opinion of creative nonfiction, which includes the essay, memoir, literary nonfiction, and mixed forms. They think creative nonfiction writers have a license to make things up. But creative nonfiction is not fictionalized — it’s factual. Its manipulations of voice, structure, and perspective can draw readers in. And it offers an effective way to write popular history.
I recently came across one of the best essays I’ve seen that describes creative nonfiction. If you’re one of the skeptics, or if you’d like to try writing or reading creative nonfiction, give it a look.
In this issue of 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.
Do you know someone who loves reading or writing history? Please direct that person to this link to subscribe to Damn History, or forward this issue in its entirety.
— Jack El-Hai
Follow me on Twitter at @Jack_ElHai
Contact me at jack@el-hai.com
Personal Notes
I wrote about a man (and childhood friend) who has built an untraditional family from the 35+ children he fathered through sperm-bank donations.
The remarkable Robert Fisch, M.D., a Holocaust survivor and artist who specialized in the treatment of PKU (phenylketonuria), died in June, and I’m glad I had the chance to profile him and get to know him.
Recently Published Popular History
You may find some of these articles behind a paywall if you’ve exceeded the publisher’s allowance of free views.
Did three men masquerading as drunken cowboys pull off the Old West’s final train robbery?
Tim Brown seemed like a typical Florida retiree, but his life was built on a deep secret.
Many young European women from the 16th through 20th centuries were thought to have “the Green Sickness.”
Two writers have solved America’s oldest soccer mystery, the fate of Wee Willie McLean.
Anne Lister wrote 26 volumes of explicit and coded diary entries over 34 years, totaling five million words. It took a hundred years and two gay researchers to decipher it all.
Here’s a startling popular-history Twitter thread about the 16th-century painter Guiseppe Arcimboldo.
Popular-history writer Neal Bascomb explains how he researches and develops his stories.
Resources
Heed this terse advice from Winston Churchill on effective writing.
Some writers, including popular historians, talk too much.
George Saunders helpfully discusses how to write endings.
Strengthen your empathy when conducting any kind of interview.
An argument for reading fewer books.
Artists create using rituals, not routines.
A plea for administrators of writing fellowships, grants, etc., to stop requiring letters of recommendation for applicants.
Housekeeping
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More next month, and thanks for taking a look. And you are welcome to forward Damn History in its entirety to anyone.
About me: I’m a journalist whose beat is history. I am the writer and host of the Long Lost investigative history podcast, and I’ve contributed hundreds of articles to such publications as Smithsonian, The Atlantic, Wired, Topic, Scientific American Mind, Discover, GQ, The Washington Post Magazine, Longreads.com, and many others. My trade 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 coach health care professionals in creative writing and have published a dozen commissioned history books for businesses, individuals, and organizations. I frequently speak before groups of many kinds.
Please feel free to get in touch.
