A recent best seller called Cold Mountain told the story of a family during the Civil War. While the story it tells is fiction, it reflects a historical period. You get to feel something of what those who lived through the war experienced in this historical fiction. The Book of Daniel in the Bible does something similar. It was written late in the Biblical period (perhaps 165 B.C.) but purports to be about the Babylonian exile which occurred four hundred years earlier. The Book wants us to understand not so much want Daniel and his companions were going through as to project what God is doing. The plan of God is at work throughout history so do not get discouraged at the troubles of today.