"Mr. Zinn talked about his book, A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present, published by Harperperennial Library. He focused on his research for the book that spans American history from Christopher Columbus's arrival to an afterward on the Clinton presidency. He also stressed the importance of including the voices of blacks, women, American Indians, war resisters, and poor laborers of all nationalities into American history. After his prepared remarks he answered questions from the audience.
10/16/99"
From The Ethan Was Here
"Howard Zinn (1922-2010) was a historian, playwright, and activist. He wrote the classic A People's History of the United States, "a brilliant and moving history of the American people from the point of view of those ... whose plight has been largely omitted from most histories" (Library Journal). The book, which has sold more than two million copies, has been featured on The Sopranos and Simpsons, and in the film Good Will Hunting. In 2009, History aired The People Speak, an acclaimed documentary co-directed by Zinn, based on A People's History and a companion volume, Voices of a People's History of the United States.
Zinn grew up in Brooklyn in a working-class, immigrant household. At 18 he became a shipyard worker and then flew bomber missions during World War II. These experiences helped shape his opposition to war and passion for history. After attending college under the GI Bill and earning a Ph.D. in history from Columbia, he taught at Spelman, where he became active in the civil rights movement. After being fired by Spelman for his support for student protesters, Zinn became a professor of Political Science at Boston University, were he taught until his retirement in 1988.
Zinn was the author of many books, including an autobiography, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train, the play Marx in Soho, and Passionate Declarations. He received the Lannan Foundation Literary Award for Nonfiction and the Eugene V. Debs award for his writing and political activism.
Photographer Photo Credit Name: Robert Birnbaum."
This photo is from the same 1999 book event that author Howard Zinn did about his book 'The People's History of the United States" but the video that this photo is from, is not currently available online right now.
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| Source:C-SPAN- author Howard Zinn talking about his book. |
As far as Howard Zinn's title for his book: "The People's History of the United States" He's arguing that a lot of the history that has been written in America, was not just written by non-Caucasians, but written about non-Caucasians by non-Caucasians. So I guess what Zinn was trying to do with his book is to say this is the important history that was left out of our history books. This is the history book for everyone else.
Howard Zinn was arguing that a lot of our American history has been written about the American military and that our heroes have been military people for the most part and that they are all let's say Caucasian men and most of them Anglo-Saxon at that. That a lot of our history has not been written about African-Americans, or American Indians. (To use as examples) But there has been a lot of history written about the civil rights movement, as there should be. And lot of the leaders that have been written about were African-Americans. The famous and most important leader and hero of that era being Dr. Martin Luther King.
Howard Zinn, makes a good point about big government in America that is has always been here. I mean you could start with slavery and all the African slaves that this country held. Or forcing Americans Indians off their land so Europeans could live there.
Howard Zinn was arguing that a lot of our American history has been written about the American military and that our heroes have been military people for the most part and that they are all let's say Caucasian men and most of them Anglo-Saxon at that. That a lot of our history has not been written about African-Americans, or American Indians. (To use as examples) But there has been a lot of history written about the civil rights movement, as there should be. And lot of the leaders that have been written about were African-Americans. The famous and most important leader and hero of that era being Dr. Martin Luther King.
Howard Zinn, makes a good point about big government in America that is has always been here. I mean you could start with slavery and all the African slaves that this country held. Or forcing Americans Indians off their land so Europeans could live there.
The early 20th Century of Jim Crow that prevented African-Americans from being able to go to good schools and even hold good jobs. Unless they owned their own business’s, but good luck doing that if you can’t get a loan from your bank, because of your race and color.
Where I differ from Howard Zinn is his point that America shouldn’t criticize other countries, because we aren’t perfect ourselves. That we can’t get on other countries human rights records, because we don’t have a perfect human rights records ourselves. Well, if perfection was the standard for criticism, no one and no other country would be able to criticize anyone for anything. And we would have a hard time improving ourselves, because people would always be telling us how great we are, or not say anything at all as far as what they think of us. Of course America is not perfect, but we’re a lot better than Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and a lot of other authoritarian states.
Where I differ from Howard Zinn is his point that America shouldn’t criticize other countries, because we aren’t perfect ourselves. That we can’t get on other countries human rights records, because we don’t have a perfect human rights records ourselves. Well, if perfection was the standard for criticism, no one and no other country would be able to criticize anyone for anything. And we would have a hard time improving ourselves, because people would always be telling us how great we are, or not say anything at all as far as what they think of us. Of course America is not perfect, but we’re a lot better than Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and a lot of other authoritarian states.
