Exploring the Past like a History Detective by Kimberlie Hamilton

My favourite books and films have always been the ones based true stories, which is probably why I became an author of nonfiction books. One of the things I love most about writing nonfiction is doing all the research, although I rarely call it research. “Detective work” is a much more accurate description for what I actually do.

The word “research” sounds a bit dry and boring and history is anything but that. For anyone with a curious mind, like me (and you, I suspect!), history is like going on a scavenger hunt through time, searching for clues and carefully piecing them together, like a jigsaw puzzle of real-life people and events.

Some people say they rarely read books about history because they prefer stories that engage their imagination. These folks clearly have no clue whatsoever how much imagination is required to study, write and read about history! Anyone who thinks of history as a (yawn) dull and lifeless record of wars and battles, kings and queens, dates and facts, would be dead wrong.

 The stories of our past are not neat and tidy. They are not black and white, or set in stone. They are actually more like a messy patchwork quilt. A madly coloured quilt with often clashing and wonky accounts of what happened, all stitched together by whoever was in power at the time.

And who has been in power for centuries on end? Humans, that’s who. And only certain humans, for that matter.

It was the educated people who wrote about history, people who lived in rich and powerful countries, people who looked a lot like this guy:

Needless to say, much of what we’ve been taught is only a teeny tiny sliver of the historical pie.

What I never knew when I was at school is that there are many gaps in history, periods when the page is totally blank and we have absolutely no idea what happened.

Other times, there are so many conflicing accounts of what happened that it’s hard to say what is true and what is fiction. This is where those detective powers come into play.

If you’ve ever watched a detective show on the telly or read a mystery novel, you’ll know that one’s powers of imagination can just as important as reason and logic.

We have to use creative thinking skills even with historical events that are extremely well documented. Why? Because most of the time, we weren’t there.

Reading about something in a book is not nearly the same as actually experiencing it. We have to take the facts and then do our best to imagine what it must have been like.

It’s not always easy to put ourselves in the shoes of someone else, especially someone who lived long ago…like a soldier dodging bullets as he runs through enemy gunfire, or a young Jewish girl, scribbling away in a diary while hiding from the Nazis.

Can you picture it in your mind, like this scene from a stage play about Anne Frank? We do this every time we read a book, whether it’s a book for pleasure or a history book at school or a nonfiction book like the ones I write.

By doing some research, you’ll find all sorts of little details that will make imagining long ago events and people much easier. I really had to put my detective skills and my imagination to work while writing my latest book, which is all about the history of the world from a cat’s perspective.

The idea for this book came when I realized that humans tell history from a very limited, human point of view, which is not necessarily what actually happened. But cats have prowled the planet for thousands of years and have become keen observers of the human race, silently watching (and judging) us with their clear, unblinking eyes.

There’s a special relationship between cats and humans that stretches back for many, many centuries. Longer than humans and dogs, believe it or not. Who better to give an account of the history of the world?

I’ve discovered that telling a story from an unexpected perspective – like a cat – often reveals stuff that I might not have paid much attention to before.

So, your Writing Challenge is to try this for yourself. Choose one item in your home or school and write a short paragraph about it from the perspective of an animal. Any object, any animal. There’s no right or wrong way to do it, so give it a bash and see what you come up with!

Kimberlie Hamilton used to live in sunny California and now lives in misty Scotland with her family and three cats. She has written all sorts of things but especially loves writing nonfiction books for young people with curious minds.

Kimberlie has a Master’s in Screenwriting from UCLA and studied Creative Writing at the University of Cambridge. She is the author of Rebel Cats, Rebel Dogs, Scotland’s Animal Superstars, Generation Hope, Rebel Animals at Risk and A History of the World (According to Cats!), and her books have been translated into 22 languages.

She is passionate about travel, books and animals and aspires to have her own sanctuary someday for cats that need a loving forever home. kimberliehamilton.co.uk

A History of the World (According to Cats!) by Kimberlie Hamilton (author) Jocelyn Kao (illustrator) Scholastic UK | 2023