Dumenil's emphasis is cultural, political and social history of 20th century America.
Dumenil is the author of The Second Line of Defense: American Women and World War I, The Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920s, Freemasonry and American Culture, 1880-1930, Through Women's Eyes: An American History (with Ellen Carol DuBois),.and (with James Henretta and David Brody) America's History, 5th edition; and America: A Concise History. She is also the Editor of Chief of The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Social History (2012). She received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1981 and began teaching at Occidental in 1989. Her emphasis is cultural, political and social history of 20th century America. Her current book project is Women, World War I, and the Emergence of Modern American Culture. In 2001-2002 she held the Fulbright Bicentennial Chair in American Studies as the University of Helsinki, Finland, and in 2008 was a Senior Fulbright Lecturer at the University or Rome.