The 100 Most Influential Americans

I just saw this article on yahoo news about the Atlantic Monthly magazine asking ten historians to rate the 100 Most Influential Americans. I won’t get all history geek on you and list about 20 people that I think should be on there but I think there are some interesting things that should be pointed out about this list which you can read here.

Just a quick glance at it shows that there are only 9 women on the list. I think a solid case could be made for:

Harriet Tubman
Clara Barton

Jenna Jameson
Rosa Parks
Gloria Steinem

But anyways, like I said I won’t get all history geek on you.

One of the people that worked on the list was author and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, who said she looked for people “who made it possible for people to lead expanded lives– materially, psychologically, culturally and spiritually.” If that was their logic behind picking it I think there is a few things I disagree on.

There were 30 authors listed but there were only 2 people associated with the film industry:

Walt Disney
Sam Goldwyn

I think a case could be made for:

Steven Spielberg

Borat
Frank Capra
Orson Wells

We could go on and on about that debate but I don’t want to get all history geek on you.

Two athletes:

Jackie Robinson
Babe Ruth

But no:

Michael Jordan

Manute Bol
Muhammad Ali
Tiger Woods (although on yahoo they say he is on the list I didn’t see him there)

Also they list Joseph Smith and Brigham Young in the top 100, the creator and the preserver of Mormonism. Do two Mormons really need to make the list, let alone one? I’m glad our largest cult got ranked over so many important people.

Finally they list a few musicians:

Louis Armstrong
Elvis Presley
Stephen Foster

I think we can open up an entire debate just about that.

Again if you want to see the entire list you can look at it here.

Some questions-

So after looking at the list is there anyone that you think should be on it?

Do you think there is a historical bias against women and that is why there were so few on the list?

Are literary figures that important that they account for 1/3 of the list?

Did I just bore you all to tears?