I was going over my fall syllabi this AM and remembered that last meeting you asked if I used fiction when I taught history. Pretty sure I mumbled something along the lines of “yes, sometimes.”
It will warm your heart to know that this fall people signed up for the Honors College version of my Am Civ since 1877 course will read (among other things), Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. Usually when I assign fiction I assign period pieces like GOW–I’ve used Booth Tarkington’s Penrod * in the past (a “kids’ book,” but one that reflects ca 1900 ideas about class, race, gender, empire) and Owen Johnson’s *Stover at Yale, which is about class and meritocracy ca. 1900
I also had the honors section read Chuck Klosterman’s Fargo Rock City to help them understand Generation X better - - but like @djpie they thought he’s a bit overdone.