Joe, you do not learn history from fiction, that is why it is called. "Fiction" ! I have been both a student and teacher of history for many years, history is hard work and requires intense study and an acute awareness of the difference between concepts such as bias, neutrality, objectivity and factual information, novelists are not bound by any of these considerations and are often driven by populist narrative. that is why, for the most part, they cannot be taken seriously by historians.
If one wishes to study history, read history, if one wishes to discuss literature, discuss novelists, but don,t confuse the two.
as a result of reading this thread I have read more Irish history and years of study will be required to fully understand it but this has been an interesting introduction .