Compare And Contrast A People's History And Howard Zinn

In spite of the fact that both Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States” and “Part 1: The World Before 1492: Contact and Exploration - 1491-1607” both explore the same time period, the two works greatly differ in the aspect of the message they convey to the reader. This is seen through observation of the difference between the largely personal level from which Zinn describes the causes and effects of European exploration and the broader and more general view from which “Part 1: The World Before 1492: Contact and Exploration - 1491-1607” details the voyages of Columbus and the results of many other attempts at expansion- as seen in the textbook’s approach to the journals of Columbus. In contrast to the primary efforts of “Part 1: The World Before 1492: Contact and Exploration - 1491-1607” to shadow the inhumane aspect of European voyages in the Americas, Zinn’s text exhibits this nature of overseas exploration with ample detail. This distinction between the works of literature is seen at large with Zinn’s inclusion of a firsthand account by Las Casas of the work required of them “to exasperate, ravage, kill, mangle and destroy” (Zinn 7) the Native Americans. In difference to the attempts of …show more content…
art 1: The World Before 1492: Contact and Exploration - 1491-1607” to conceal this type of behavior the Spaniards-and most of the other European nations-exhibited, Zinn’s display of this inhumanity leads it to be characterized as more