The host for week 4 of Nonfiction November is Rebekah of She Seeks Nonfiction and here is this week’s topic:
Nonfiction books are one of the best tools for seeing the world through someone else’s eyes. They allow us to get an idea of the experiences of people of all different ages, races, genders, abilities, religions, socioeconomic backgrounds, or even just people with different opinions than ours. Is there a book you read this year from a diverse author, or a book that opened your eyes to a perspective that you hadn’t considered? How did it challenge you to think differently?
I’ve only read seven nonfiction books this year and sadly only one of them includes diverse perspectives – so that’s the book I’m going to focus on here. It’s A History of England in 25 Poems by Catherine Clarke. In this book, Clarke selects twenty-five poems and uses them to explore England’s history, culture and identity, taking us from the 8th century right through to the modern day. As you would expect, many of the poems, particularly the older ones, are written by white Englishmen, but Clarke has also included some written by women and people of other nationalities and backgrounds. Here are some that stood out:
To the Right Honourable William, Earl of Dartmouth by Phillis Wheatley (1773)
Phillis Wheatley was the first African American woman to have her poems published. She was born in West Africa, where she was sold into slavery and bought by the Wheatley family of Boston. She was later emancipated after her first book of poetry was published. In 1773, the Earl of Dartmouth had recently been appointed secretary of state for the colonies and Phillis wrote him this poem to express her hope that he would be supportive of freedom and justice.
Hurricane Hits England by Grace Nichols (1996)
Grace Nichols is a Guyanese poet who moved to Britain in 1977. This poem is about the Great Storm of 1987, which she experienced while living in England, and how it brought back childhood memories of hurricanes in the Caribbean, helping her to form a connection between life in her new country and her homeland.
England’s Glory by Fleur Adock (1986)
Fleur Adcock spent most of her adult life in England but was born in New Zealand. In this poem, she looks at England’s north-south divide and explores cultural differences and stereotypes in a humorous way, using two different brands of matches to represent the characteristics of northerners and southerners.
Crumble-Hall by Mary Leapor (1751)
Mary Leapor is an English poet who, unusually for her time period, came from a working class background and worked as a kitchen maid. She died from measles at the age of just twenty-four but two volumes of her poetry were published posthumously. Crumble-Hall is a satire on the 18th century country house poem, written from a servant’s perspective.
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Do you know any of these poems? And have you read any nonfiction this year that is written by a diverse author or includes unusual perspectives?
She Reads Novels 
What a fascinating way of exploring history!
Yes, I thought it was a great idea!
Thank you for sharing these Helen. I am a great fan of Fleur Adcock from my poetry days.
I’m not sure if I’ve read anything else by Fleur Adcock (I’ve never been a big poetry reader) but I did enjoy the poem which is included in this book.
This is a cool idea for a book. It must have been difficult to choose only 25 poems.
I thought it was a fascinating approach. And yes, there could have been a lot more than 25 poems!
Oh, I must go and find the hurricane poem as I lived through that hurricane right in the middle of it and I will never forget it – but it was minor compared to “proper” ones I know.
I liked the hurricane poem – it was interesting to hear about it from the perspective of someone who had experienced Caribbean hurricanes. I can only vaguely remember it myself as I was quite young and my part of the country wasn’t too badly affected.
I love reading poetry especially if I have help understanding them or context. This sound like a worthwhile read.
My week 4 post: https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/2025/11/nonfiction-november-week-four-diverse.html
I’ve never really been into poetry but I did enjoy seeing these 25 poems put into historical context. It’s a fascinating book.
I’m glad to see a book of poetry among our diverse books for week 4! Last year I tried to read more poetry because I read so little, and this year I finally bought a Mary Oliver book of poetry and read it slowly. I enjoy it when I sit down with it, but I don’t do it very often.
I often struggle with poetry but I enjoyed this book because it provides the historical context behind each poem. I thought it was fascinating.
I have added this book to my list of books I hope to read. Thank you for sharing it with us.
I really enjoyed it!
I love this approach to studying history! I’m doing something similar-but-different for my master’s thesis and I love the kind of stories and insights literature can give us into history. Thanks for bringing this book to my attention!
Yes, I thought this was a fascinating approach. I’m not really a big fan of poetry, but I loved the author’s analysis of how each poem teaches us something new about English history. It’s a great book.