On another matter, I especially liked your observation that fiction could help teach history.

As for The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane inspired me when I was researching Drone Child. He not only read old eyewitness accounts from the Civil War but also talked to people. I wanted actual Congolese to like my book and consider my local details to be authentic.

Speaking of The Red Badge, here’s a fantasy that ideally will transcend ideology and political differences. Congress passes a law saying all political candidates must read Crane’s masterpiece to understand what heroism is all about.

Could there be a connection between our current political barbarities and the fact that many schools over the years have dumbed down their reading?

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When I was a kid, I read everything. I was reading adult books when I was ten years old. I might not have understood everything I read but I did follow the narrative. When I got older, I reread many of these books & was able to understand much better what I could not understand as a child; but that did not mean I couldn’t enjoy these books when I was young.

In sixth grade, we read “Rifles For Watie” by Harold Keith, a YA novel about the Civil War in class. It covered the Western war, which is seldom covered in history classes & the introduction of new rifles & how that changed the war; also the Cherokee Nation & the Trail of Tears. It was a great way to teach the issues of the Civil War & what lead to this terrible war while not pointing fingers at any group of people.

Another book I remember reading, perhaps when I was a little older, in seventh or eighth grade perhaps, was “The Red Badge of Courage” by Stephen Crane.

We also read “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank.

It’s good for kids to read these things. They need to be exposed to all kinds of experiences, things that they don’t see in their own lives.

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