Fiction as fact : The horse soldiers and popular memory /

York (Brigham Young Univ.) has written a very useful text about history and reaching the public. It relates the story behind the 1959 John Ford movie The Horse Soldiers while dealing with history, historical novels, and public perceptions of history. The smooth-flowing text first presents Grierson's 1863 Union cavalry raid through Mississippi as reported by eyewitness documents. Historical novels written by D. Brown (Grierson's Raid, 1954) and H. Sinclair (The Horse Soldiers, 1956) are discussed as literary and historical presentations. The making of the movie, including both pre- and post-production script and film editing, is covered with particular emphasis on John Ford's creations. Two final chapters address the problems of what the movie and novels omitted and assess how, and if, truth about the historical past can be attained. The last chapter discusses how shifting views of duty, honor, and history have been treated by historians, the press, novelists, and filmmakers. The public reception of history is often more dependent on nonhistorians who portray the past in a more colorful and moving fashion than historians. The text is amply cited and could well be used in historiography courses. L. E. Babits East Carolina University