Howard Zinn was one of the most well known American historians in recent history. His A People’s History of the United States is a best-seller that routinely sells more than one hundred thousand copies every year, despite being published 35 years ago. Zinn was born in 1922, the son of two Jewish factory workers. He was introduced to literature at an early age, and studied creative writing in a special program at his high school. Zinn joined the US Army Air Force during World War II and became a bombardier with the 490th Bombardment Group. His experiences in WWII helped develop his anti-war stance. Zinn earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. in history at Columbia University in 1958. He has cited Richard Hofstadter’s The American Political Tradition as
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Howard Zinn has described himself as “a sort of Marxist”, as well as an anarchist later in his life. These descriptions can be seen by looking at his body of work as a whole, and even more specifically by looking at A People’s History of the United States. He focuses on the general public’s side of the story, going against the common trend of recounting the political side of history. In A People’s History, Zinn starts with the oppression and overall disrespectful treatment of Native Americans by explorers, describes slaves’ struggle against slavery, workers’ struggles against capitalists , women against patriarchy, and African-Americans’ fight for civil rights. This theme continues in many of his other works, as well as a general negative view of war. Zinn wrote many books and gave many speeches regarding the questionable wars of our past and present, picking apart the justifications for fighting those wars and offering his opinion, which was always that we should not have fought this war. He was known for openly criticizing the military’s motives, and was one of the first people to call for withdrawal from Vietnam. His case for withdrawal from Vietnam was …show more content…
Zinn’s opinions are regarded with awe by some, interest by others, and pure derision by those on the opposite end of the spectrum. While this same thing occurs when any historian or any average person expresses their opinion, Zinn’s particularly inflammatory topic choices and word selection have earned him a reputation as an “anti-American Marxist” and as a man who twists history to fit his liking. Despite these negative opinions, Zinn remained a very persuasive and stubborn man who was not afraid to speak out loudly against what he didn’t believe. Many contemporary historians, despite disagreeing with Zinn’s core beliefs, respected him for his tenacity and unbridled passion. Many of his points are still relevant today, and he must have done something right with A People’s History of the United States, as it is still selling over 100,000 copies per year twenty years after its publication. Zinn was also extremely good at argumentative and persuasive speech, and these skills, coupled with his determination and passion for history, combined to create a very influential man whose work is still relevant, even
Howard Zinn has described himself as “a sort of Marxist”, as well as an anarchist later in his life. These descriptions can be seen by looking at his body of work as a whole, and even more specifically by looking at A People’s History of the United States. He focuses on the general public’s side of the story, going against the common trend of recounting the political side of history. In A People’s History, Zinn starts with the oppression and overall disrespectful treatment of Native Americans by explorers, describes slaves’ struggle against slavery, workers’ struggles against capitalists , women against patriarchy, and African-Americans’ fight for civil rights. This theme continues in many of his other works, as well as a general negative view of war. Zinn wrote many books and gave many speeches regarding the questionable wars of our past and present, picking apart the justifications for fighting those wars and offering his opinion, which was always that we should not have fought this war. He was known for openly criticizing the military’s motives, and was one of the first people to call for withdrawal from Vietnam. His case for withdrawal from Vietnam was …show more content…
Zinn’s opinions are regarded with awe by some, interest by others, and pure derision by those on the opposite end of the spectrum. While this same thing occurs when any historian or any average person expresses their opinion, Zinn’s particularly inflammatory topic choices and word selection have earned him a reputation as an “anti-American Marxist” and as a man who twists history to fit his liking. Despite these negative opinions, Zinn remained a very persuasive and stubborn man who was not afraid to speak out loudly against what he didn’t believe. Many contemporary historians, despite disagreeing with Zinn’s core beliefs, respected him for his tenacity and unbridled passion. Many of his points are still relevant today, and he must have done something right with A People’s History of the United States, as it is still selling over 100,000 copies per year twenty years after its publication. Zinn was also extremely good at argumentative and persuasive speech, and these skills, coupled with his determination and passion for history, combined to create a very influential man whose work is still relevant, even