History is all around us. Wherever we are, wherever we have been or will one day be, it is what it is because of the people and events that have affected and affected it. But sometimes events of such magnitude occur that it is not enough to learn about them in traditional ways, such as through history classes or non-fiction books. Sometimes history needs to be absorbed into fiction, more specifically historical fiction. Events such as the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the fall of the British Empire and its subsequent withdrawal from India, the emergence of Pakistan as a self-determined nation and the terrorist attacks of September 11 are such events. By delving into fiction as a means of understanding, we come to better understand both human nature and the events that shook the world. In this article, I will argue that when history is fictionalized, it becomes easier to absorb the information about the shocking events that occurred. Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie provides the framework for these four events as historical fiction. By examining everything we can from this source, we will learn a lot about ourselves as well as history. The first event to occur, both chronologically and in the book, is the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945. Our narrator, Hiroko Tanaka, tells us how "sunlight shines through, further spreading the clouds”. . […] And then the world turns white. (Shamsie 23) This vivid description allows readers to understand how shocking and unexpected the bombing was. People didn't expect the bomb to fall on Nagasaki, because as Hiroko had told her fiancé Konrad Weiss a few pages earlier, "Nagasaki would be spared any damage because it was the most Christian of cities from Japan. »...... middle of paper ......7 pages, while only one other important character has not yet been introduced), the Pashtun youth finally orbits sufficiently close to the Tanaka family sphere- Weiss-Burton-Achraf to be considered the crucial element of the end of the story (and also its prologue). The collision of ideas and beliefs in the final chapters of this novel illustrates the need for historical fiction to better understand history. It is easy, from an outsider's perspective, to see how wrong those who opposed the civil rights movement or supported the institution of slavery were. It is less easy to determine whether the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima were good or bad. For the sake of winning the war, they were seen as right, but for the sake of humanity, they were wrong. Works Cited Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie Oxford English Dictionary Beginning Theory by Peter Barry