This video topic might interest only me, but I think it provides useful context for my next several videos about different corners of the historical fiction genre. I'm sequencing the videos so that each builds on the ones that came before.

Also, I apologize for the harsh audio quality in this one. I was going hoarse while filming, which created some vocal static (that might only be noticeable when using headphones).

Ok but what if I didn’t want a BRIEF history? What if I wanted the 10 hour extended directors cut of the FULL history of fiction? In all seriousness, thank you for posting. Your videos are worth the wait!

A new Library Ladder video!  Ahhhhhh a wave of satisfaction washes over me.

I am a data nerd, so I love stuff like this. Looking forward to the upcoming historical fiction videos.

another informative overview as always many thanks

Thank you for this great overview. I'm looking forward to those follow up videos about historical fiction.

This was just a lot of fun for me to experience — I had had very little sense of what was popular (vs what has survived as well known now) across the 20th century. So cool to see the ebbs and flows of popularity within particular genres, as well as how the bestseller list can be so dominated by just a few authors at any given time!

Using the terms climax and refractory responsive in relation to literary writings is well done

A big reason why I love your channel is precisely because I'm not interested in what's popular or bestselling. But it's nice to occasionally watch one of your videos that doesn't exponentially inflate my reading list! This cycle is very interesting to see. It seems that just as your three listed innovations changed fiction in the 20th century, so AI and social media are changing fiction (greatly for the worse) in the 21st.

Tremendous video, as always! I always learn something new!

Thank you for presenting such delightful subject. I have read/owned many of these authors novels. I would also like to include Catherine Cookson, Trevanian,  and Eleanor Taylor Bland.

Two words come to mind whenever I watch one of your presentations - eloquent and learned.  I really appreciate your eloquent style of presentation and I always come away believing I've learnt something.  I am very much looking forward to the next parts of this investigation into historical fiction.  My all-time favourite novel (Shogun by James Clavell) is very firmly rooted in the historical fiction genre and yet it also manages to be be a compelling military and political thriller and an engaging love story as well.  And, dare I say it, a superb 'first contact' story, albeit far removed from the science fiction genre that such stories usually inhabit.  Thank you, as always.

This was eye opening. It sure is lonely at the top! A handful of authors dominating sales for decades.

Ah a wonderful video to have winded down the night, before settling in with a good read (The Lions of Al-Rassan).

Loved seeing that kipling on display!  I really hope my guy doesn’t fade into obscurity.  “The man who would be king” haunted me…

These videos are such a joy! Even Mika Waltari gets a mention! He has been my life long favourite author as a fellow Finn! His historical novels are among the very best. I don’t think they are easy to find as English unabridged versions these days.

Bridger, first, the audio quality was just fine. As always, very informative and plenty of food for thought, thanks for the work you put into your passion. Cheers, Gus from England ;)

Great video!  I'm always been fascinated by the intersection of popularity and art, and it was very interesting to see which popular books and authors of the past are still popular today and which have been mostly forgotten by history.

You have the perfect voice for this. 🥰

I'm 80 and started reading at 3.  This video topic certainly interested me.  I have read so many of the books and authors you mentioned.  I, also, have ADD (list R us) and putting this together in an understandable form was wonderful.  Thank you.  I'm putting this on one of my SAVE lists to reference again.
I agree that during a certain time, the author did become more important than book!  My bedroom was a shrine, if you will, to Eleanor Alice Burford.  I owned all the books she wrote under Jean Plaidy and Victoria Holt.  Seriously, we had a saying back then: "I've read so many Victoria Holt books, I call her Vicky."
While I have deviated a bit from your list, I did follow the pattern.
To be honest, I audio'd The Hunger Games and Divergent.  I didn't like any of the books but audio kept me from DNFing.  Dipping into the past and catching up on some books I hadn't gotten to back then is more satisfying to me.
I might mention that with the exception of I, Claudius, I was not a fan of a lot of history and rarely read a War or Western book.  Auto- and biographies were not interesting until the people, starting in the 1960s and forward, wrote (or were written about) themselves.  Perhaps it is because I can connect with their pasts as that was my past, too.
I would add a couple of things of my own about the downfall of books:  All aspersions to you aside...booktube and tictocbooks, and AI.  Plus, McGuire fully admitted that Wicked was plain old fan fiction but he took a shot at self-publishing and got picked up by a publishing company by word-of-mouth.  And it reads like fanfic, it wasn't even edited by the company.  AND covers.  If it has a sparkly cover, sprayed sides and some drawings inside, they will buy it.  If you come out with a snappier looking version of what you already own, they will buy it.  I prefer a book.  A real book.  In my hands.  With a bookmark and that doesn't mean your iphone stuck in it.  Plus, you NEED, highlighting, stickers and tabs...I pass my books on and, if I like something, I write it down...in cursive.  Thank you.
Blessings