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News & ArtsWednesday, January 27, 2010
Books Howard Zinn
Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 3:45 PM
The historian and author of A People's History of the United States is dead at 87.
Between Auchincloss and Zinn, this is a very sad day for books. We're losing our elder statesmen. If you haven't read People's History, you really, really, really should.
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Also, for those of us with ADHD / love shorter works (ironic since overall it's much longer), The Zinn Reader is awesome - tons of essays, papers, lectures, and the like from his entire career. I'll be opening it up to "the problem is civil obedience" when I get home tonight. :/ The opening lines seem like a fitting summation of what the man yelled from the rooftops and made people notice:
"I start from the supposition that the world is topsy-turvy, that things are all wrong, that the wrong people are in jail and the wrong people are out of jail, that the wrong people are in power and the wrong people are out of power, that the wealth is distributed in this country and the world in such a way as not simply to require small reform but to require a drastic reallocation of wealth. I start from the supposition that we don't have to say too much about this because all we have to do is think about the state of the world today and realize that things are all upside down."
"I start from the supposition that the world is topsy-turvy, that things are all wrong, that the wrong people are in jail and the wrong people are out of jail, that the wrong people are in power and the wrong people are out of power, that the wealth is distributed in this country and the world in such a way as not simply to require small reform but to require a drastic reallocation of wealth. I start from the supposition that we don't have to say too much about this because all we have to do is think about the state of the world today and realize that things are all upside down."
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"I'm worried that students will take their obedient place in society and look to become successful cogs in the wheel - let the wheel spin them around as it wants without taking a look at what they're doing. I'm concerned that students not become passive acceptors of the official doctrine that's handed down to them from the White House, the media, textbooks, teachers and preachers" — Howard Zinn
fuck
fuck
8
I was planning to see him speak at evergreen next month and was so excited to finally see him. This is a huge loss.
9
And if you haven't read Dissent magazine's critique of "A People's History of the United States", you really, really, really should.
http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/?…
http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/?…
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Howard Zinn was a true patriot. He truly walked his talk everyday of his 87 years - truly one of the most inspirational americans of the 20th century. RIP.
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he's funny, incisive, and compassionate. check out one of his last speeches "holy wars" from a few months ago at http://www.democracynow.org/tags/howard_…. we've lost a great person - he found information and shared it just to benefit others.
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@9: Thanks for posting the link. As much as I admire Zinn's motives, I have always thought he was a shitty historian.
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The first chapter of A People's History made me weep. But the sloppiness and bias in the rest of the book made it nearly unreadable.
Still, Zinn will be missed.
Still, Zinn will be missed.
18
Sorry guys, but I hated A People's History when they made us read it in high school. I don't disagree with many of his views, but I couldn't stand that book.
19
An interesting addition to the cannon of American History, but the guy really never realized that history is not a case of black and white, but is instead colored in shades of gray.
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Frankly, it's bad history, not good at all. If you're going to read only one American history book (and let's face it, that's all the Zinn fans do), you shouldn't read Zinn's inaccurate and ideologically skewed perspective.
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@20- I'm a Zinn fan, I read history books all the time.
Which history of the USA do you think is the one people should read, if they were to read but one?
Which history of the USA do you think is the one people should read, if they were to read but one?
22
So he finally died!
A man who wholeheartedly supported Stalin, Mao, Pol-Pot and every other disgusting dictator on this planet.
A tragic (though unfortunately not uncommon) case of an anti-semitic Jew.
Dying was the best thing he has done for this country, too bad he waited that long. I hope his buddy Noah Chomsky follows him soon.
A man who wholeheartedly supported Stalin, Mao, Pol-Pot and every other disgusting dictator on this planet.
A tragic (though unfortunately not uncommon) case of an anti-semitic Jew.
Dying was the best thing he has done for this country, too bad he waited that long. I hope his buddy Noah Chomsky follows him soon.
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