I'm currently reading Replay by Ken Grimwood, which is a fantastic book so far. It's part of the Fantasy Masterworks series.

Unexpectedly, I've learned some new things about our history - for instance, more about Jonestown. I had heard of this, but nothing more than it being a horrible mass suicide of cultists in the late 70s. This book made me look into it a bit more. It's rather interesting.

Grimwood also alters details of very well-known events, like the assassination of JFK. It all works very nicely in the book. Of course, this book IS set in our world.

However. To the discussion point: do you like it when authors bring real world events into their fantasy/sci-fi books? Or do you prefer to read things that are competely invented?

Have you any examples where Real World is done particularly well or particularly badly?

Is this style more spec-fic than fantasy, or is there a lot of room for crossover?