If uncovering the truth is the greatest challenge of nonfiction

The words of Candice Millard—“If uncovering the truth is the greatest challenge of nonfiction writing, it is also the greatest reward”—shine like a torch in the hands of those who search through the labyrinth of history and human memory. In them lies the recognition that truth, though often buried, resistant, and hidden beneath the sands of time, is the pearl for which the writer must dive into the depths. It is a hard task, demanding patience, courage, and the willingness to face what is uncomfortable. Yet when the veil is lifted and the light of truth falls upon forgotten faces and lost events, the heart is filled with reward that outweighs all struggle.

To write nonfiction is not merely to gather facts like stones scattered on the ground. It is to dig, to sift, and to polish until those stones reveal the form of a temple long hidden. For truth does not always yield itself easily. It resists the careless hand. It demands the devotion of one who will not stop until the fragments of the past speak again. Millard herself, in her chronicles of great figures and untold moments, has shown this: the struggle of a writer is not just in telling a story, but in tearing through the fog of myth and rumor to touch the living heartbeat of reality.

Consider the story of Herodotus, often called the Father of History. He traveled through lands far from his own, collecting the tales of kings, wars, and wonders. Yet he was confronted with contradictions—different voices telling different accounts of the same event. His challenge was not to find what was easy, but to pierce through the noise and weigh which account carried the weight of truth. Though imperfect, his reward was that generations after him have known the deeds of the Persians, the Egyptians, and the Greeks—not as shadows, but as living presences. The challenge of truth gave him a reward that endured beyond his life.

Or think of the work of modern historians who sought to uncover the horrors of the Holocaust. For years, there were those who tried to deny it, to bury the voices of the dead beneath lies and silence. But writers and survivors together fought to bring forth the truth, even when it was unbearable. They combed through testimonies, letters, and photographs. The challenge was immense: how to capture horror without being consumed by it, how to write what many wished to forget. And yet the reward was greater: the memory of the victims preserved, the warning to future generations recorded, and the flame of truth kept alive against the darkness of denial.

The ancients knew that truth is like fire: it warms and illuminates, but it can also burn. To seek it requires both bravery and humility. The nonfiction writer is like a warrior, armed not with sword and shield, but with pen and paper, venturing into the unknown to wrestle truth from the clutches of time, deception, and human frailty. The challenge is real, for every page written may reveal one’s own limitations, biases, or fears. But the reward is a legacy that grants light to those who come after, a light that endures long after the writer has turned to dust.

The lesson is clear: in our own lives, we too must strive to uncover the truth—not only in books, but in our daily dealings, in the stories we inherit, and in the images we hold of ourselves. The work may be difficult. We may find truths that unsettle us, that break our illusions. But if we persist, the reward will be freedom, clarity, and the peace of living in alignment with what is real. Each of us, though not all writers of history, can be historians of our own souls, uncovering the truths hidden within us and offering them honestly to others.

Therefore, let this teaching settle upon your heart: never fear the challenge of truth, for it is the gateway to wisdom. Seek it with diligence, record it with honesty, and live it with courage. For though it may cost you comfort and certainty, it will grant you a reward more enduring than fame or wealth—the reward of walking in light, and leaving behind a trail that others may follow into clarity, freedom, and understanding.