John Charity Spring posted:

George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman series is the benchmark for all good historical fiction. Pick up the first of them, which is simply called Flashman, and wallow in the glory of it. They're the 'memoirs' of a 19th-century Victorian hero, Brigadier Sir Harry Paget Flashman, VC. The conceit is that this much-decorated hero is writing his memoirs in his old age, shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, and being truthful about his exploits for the first time in his life. His exploits being entirely built on lies, cowardice, betrayal, and general poltroonery. They're impeccably researched and accurate (with lots of footnotes by 'the editor' to clarify bits where Flashman's memory is playing him false) and excellently written. Damned funny, too.