The BBC's ten-part miniseries The White Queen tells the story of the Wars of the Roses by stressing the role of women within them, highlighting the fact that in a dispute in which marriage and succession played such an important role, women's bodies were often a field, and a weapon, of battle. In the last few weeks I've consumed two different works that take on the same historical period with this goal in mind, but from two different perspectives. It's one of the tasks of historians to address the gaps and deficits in the official record, but this is also where historical fiction can come in, giving a voice to those who were denied it at the time. People of the wrong gender, race, class, or nationality not only don't get to write history, they often don't even get to appear in it. By people who toe-and sometimes the ones who shape-the party line. History is also written by the powerful, the educated, the privileged. We all know that history is written by the victors, but the matter doesn't end there.
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