While this is certainly not a history book, the lives of the women follow the national struggles (civil rights for example) which got national attention

Pictures of real American circus scenes from the first half of the century peppered throughout the book which really hit home and helped visualize the narrative

The making of a writer. Daniel Baciagalupo and his father flee a 1950’s New Hampshire logging town after Daniel accidentally killed his father’s lover.

In A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True the author fashions the tale in a fairytale like narrative spiced with European / Yiddish humor

A fictional story tells the story of 3 generations of Estonian women (& the men in their lives).The book correspond to the historical events which take Estonia