Obviously classical music tends to be stuff that is usually at least a hundred years old.
I've always been a fan of the 19th century novel, of the novel that is plotted, character-driven, and where the passage of time is almost as central to the novel as a major minor character, the passage of time and its effect on the characters in the story.
There is no reason to have problems between country and country, between government and government, when there is a separation of powers.