Adding to #ReadingWomen
by Dr. Robert Thompson
We are very happy to bring you this next installment in the series. More so, it is a pleasure to publish the thoughts of another man in the broad National Security field who perceives the knowledge gender gap exhibited in non-representative readings lists as problematic. Working in military history, Dr. Thompson persuasively argues the case for a gender-broadened approach to scholarship and subject expertise. Beyond this contribution, he has also compiled a massive list of military history by women that makes a mockery of their exclusion from recommendations. You can find the fruits of that mighty labor here. Enjoy! — JSR
Symbols matter. Reading lists need to reflect the communities that view them. When reading lists appear more like a club roll-call, such documents send a message of exclusion. Recently, I asked Twitter users for assistance in creating a military history reading list naming only works by women. The impetus emerged after observing conservations on Twitter about the lack of inclusion of women on military history reading lists, most recently that published by the Chief of Staff of the Army. The #ReadingWomen series on CCLKOW caused me to think about how I could expand the conversation as a man, so here goes.
I realize my academic upbringing differs from most. I completed my doctorate at a program that does not tolerate the marginalization of women. Knowledge of history as a white men’s club never agreed with me. Indeed, not once during my undergrad and graduate journey did I ever see the study of history as the domain of men. I grew-up in a family of strong women, from my grandmothers to my mother and sisters. My academic experiences with history, coupled with my own upbringing, have me seeing the study of history as a forum open to all. Should my daughter decide to pursue history as a career, as I have, I want her to do so as I have, without concerns based on her being who she is.
As an historian with Vietnam War focus, it is impossible to study the war without reading publications by women. Indeed, Kara Dixon Vuic’s Office, Nurse, Woman: The Army Nurse Corps in the Vietnam War was the first book I nominated for the list. I did so because her book was my first experience with gender and the Vietnam War, followed by Heather Stur’s Beyond Combat: Women and Gender in the Vietnam War Era. It is hard to see war without a gendered lens after reading Vuic and Stur, and for that I’m extremely thankful. Another book I recommended, Jessica M. Chapman’s Cauldron of Resistance: Ngo Dinh Diem, the United States, and 1950s Southern Vietnam, is the go-to study on Ngo Dinh Diem and his relationship with the United States. To understanding the political scene in the Republic of Vietnam means reading Chapman’s work. Similarly, Lien-Hang T. Nguyen’s Hanoi’s War: An International History of the War for Peace in Vietnam is the book on North Vietnam’s leadership during the Vietnam War. All four of these publications are foundational, yet absent from the Chief of Staff of the Army’s reading list or many others.
Having completed a doctorate, and reading a wide assortment of books, I find it hard to create any reading list void of multiple titles by women. Yet here we are, writing and creating lists to emphasis the omission of their contributions. In two days, my call for publications by women resulted in 267 works. After four days, the list exceeded 303. Such numbers indicate two significant details. One, it is not hard to obtain titles by women authors beyond The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman. While Tuchman’s works are worthy of inclusion on any military history reading list, her sole appearance on the Chief of Staff of the Army’s reading list seems like a token addition. Two, with so many publications to choose from, any legitimate reading list is horribly incomplete without multiple tiles by multiple women.
Military history is not a men’s club–our reading lists must reflect that.
Robert Thompson earned his Ph.D. in U.S. History from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2016. His dissertation was on pacification in the Republic of Vietnam’s Phu Yen Province during the Vietnam War. This work was featured in The New York Times Vietnam ’67 series, “Pacification, Through the Barrel of a Gun”. You can find him on Twitter @_RobThompson.
