Which of the following is offered as evidence against the saying?
It is often said that history is written by the victors. The saying has a grain of truth: records of the defeated are more likely to be burned, and their stories less often told. But taken literally it is false. Some of the most scathing accounts of rulers were written under those rulers' successors, and the losers have often written the most influential histories, as the defeated of one war write with bitter care to understand why they lost. The saying also leaves out the more important point that history is written by those who have time, records and readers. The danger is not that one side's version prevails but that the voices of those who left few records, the poor, the illiterate, women in many periods, are lost to ordinary history.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: A. Scathing accounts of rulers written under their successors, and influential histories by the defeated
- Step 1: The passage cites scathing accounts of rulers under their successors and influential histories by losers.
- Step 2: The only choice consistent with this is "Scathing accounts of rulers written under their successors, and influential histories by the defeated".
Answer
Scathing accounts of rulers written under their successors, and influential histories by the defeated.
Why not the others: The poor and women are cited as examples of lost voices, not counter-evidence to the saying.
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