A People’s History of the United States: 1492 to the Present
Updated: Aug 8
Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States is simultaneously disheartening, empowering, sobering, and enthralling, and should be required reading for every American, regardless of age, political persuasion, or socioeconomic status. While conservatives will no doubt find (and have found, as evidenced by the 2004 counterpoint book A Patriot’s History of the United States by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen) Zinn’s point of view to be decidedly liberal, I firmly disagree. Zinn’s perspective is one of the underdog, the average citizen, the minority, the foreigner—those who don’t figure into most historical accounts other than as side notes to the otherwise positively presented exploits of government and big business—and this approach clearly makes those interested in maintaining the status quo uncomfortable. With President Obama time and again eschewing his campaign promises in favor of continuing the conservative and regressive policies of George W. Bush (militarism, tax cuts for the wealthy, decreased funding for social programs, etc.), this telling of American history has never been more timely—or more necessary.
Comments