But actually, Tolerance is worthy of a deeper study。 This book is a historical fiction。 There are many versions of descriptions for historical fiction。 In Random House Dictionary, historical fiction is defined as: “noun 1。 The genre of literature, film, etc。, comprising narratives that take place in the past and are characterized chiefly by an imaginative reconstruction of historical events and personages”。 

Most of us would accept this definition that combines the elements of the two words。 

And in H。 Scott Dalton’s (the writer of A Square Foot of Calfskin) “What Is Historical Fiction?” he distinguished historical fiction to the forms followed:

a) Depictions of real historical figures in the context of the challenges they faced。

b) Depictions of real historical figures in imagined situations。

c) Depictions of fictional characters in documented historical situations。

d) Depictions of fictional characters in fictional situations, but in the context of a real historical period。( Scott, 2006)

As a typical historical fiction, Tolerance tells the history of Western religion in a more casual and easy-understanding way。 The purpose of writing Tolerance is to spread the knowledge of the history to general public but not for some rigorous research。 So Tolerance is different to history books, because its language style is not as strict as a history book。 And there are so many details written in this book such as the tools that people used in the story and their feelings。 I believe there are some details that can’t be proved from historical materials。 In other words, there are lots of fictional parts in Tolerance。 But it is not a totally fictional story either, because it is based on the true religious history and mostly it tells people the truth if we ignore those details that can’t change the general trend of the whole story。 

So I decided to study Tolerance from its characteristics of historical fiction, to see how it is different from history books and fiction stories and from these differences what attitudes of Van Loon to the history can I find。