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Alec Twining
English 11
Mr. Salow
November 6, 2015

The Mangling of American History Response

David Gordon argues in The Mangling of American History that women have recently
been focused on more in history, pushing mens involvement to the wayside. This is primarily
caused from the belief that women have wrongfully been given less rights then men, like their
belated right to vote. And while it is great that women gained their voting rights along with other
significant achievements it does not mean that women should receive predominance in the telling
of history.
Notably, Gordon states, when talking about the negative effects that biased history telling
has on the future, It is important to emphasize womens role in society and in history. However,
it is difficult to see how a feminist perspective could contribute very much to a diplomatic
history of Europe between the Napoleonic and the First World War. (The Mangling of
American History). Women's history and its role in society should be taught only where it makes
sense and not put in every nook and cranny that it can be jammed into. In other words, when
studying something like the womens feminist movement it would not make sense for historians
to focus on men and their involvement in the movement but rather to focus on the actual women
that were involved and maybe take a glance at the men that helped to propel this movement.
Likewise, it does not make sense to focus on women in historical events if men are the main
contributors. And this is why no one race, class or gender should have supremacy in the telling of
history because everyone has contributed to history in one way or another. In historians attempt

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to end discrimination against women they have only taken the discrimination off of women and
placed it on men in their stead.