After the Fact Authority and the Historical Document in Late TwentiethCentury Literature examines historiographic metafictionamprsquos epistemological concern with the historical document. The six texts herein recover official and neglected documents viewing history from marginal perspectives endeavoring an ethical reconsideration of dominant historical narratives. Thematically paired chapters focus on eyewitness narratives legal and official government documents and news publications. The first two chapters D.M. Thomasamprsquo The White Hotel with Toni Morrisonamprsquos Beloved explore the writersamprsquo reconsideration of eyewitness accounts specifically the Holocaust survivor narrative and the slave narrative. The second pair reviews mythologies of the nation in the United States. Susan Howeamprsquos Singularities rewrites the Indian captivity narrative. Hannah Weineramprsquos Spoke revises the 1868 Black Hills treaty to focus on how popular and official texts promote the colonial imaginary and function to justify colonial expansion. The final two chapters examine Margaret Atwoodamprsquos Alias Grace and Robert Cooveramprsquos The Public Burning which critique the pressamprsquos authority by questioning its claim to objectivity.