Howard Zinn (1922–2010)
Author of A People's History of the United States
About the Author
A committed radical historian and activist, Howard Zinn approaches the study of the past from the point of view of those whom he feels have been exploited by the powerful. Zinn was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1922. After working in local shipyards during his teens, he joined the U.S. Army Air show more Force, where he saw combat as a bombardier in World War II. He received a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University in 1958 and was a postdoctoral fellow in East Asian studies at Harvard University. While teaching at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, Zinn joined the civil rights movement and wrote The Southern Mystique (1964) and SNCC: The New Abolitionists (1964). He also became an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War, writing Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal (1967) and visiting Hanoi to receive the first American prisoners released by the North Vietnamese. Zinn's best-known and most-praised work, as well as his most controversial, is A People's History of the United States (1980). It explores American history under the thesis that most historians have favored those in power, leaving another story untold. Zinn discusses such topics as Native American views of Columbus and the socialist and anarchist opposition to World War I in examining his theory that historical change is most often due to "mass movements of ordinary people." Zinn's other books include You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times (1995) and Artists in Times of War (2004). He has also written the plays Emma (1976), Daughter of Venus (1985), and Marx in Soho (1999). (Bowker Author Biography) Howard Zinn grew up in the immigrant slums of Brooklyn, where he worked in shipyards in his late teens. He saw combat duty as an air force bombardier in World War II, and afterward received his doctorate in history from Columbia University. His first book, "La Guardia in Congress", was an Albert Beveridge Prize winner. In 1956, he moved with his wife and children to Atlanta to become chairman of the history department of Spelman College. He has since written and edited many more books, including A People's History of the United States, SNCC: The New Abolitionist; Disobedience and Democracy; The Politics of History; The Pentagon Papers: Critical Essays; You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times; and The Zinn Reader (Seven Stories Press, 1997). Zinn is also the author of three plays, Emma, Daughter of Venus, and Marx in Soho. Among the many honors Zinn has received is the 1998 Lannan Literary Award for nonfiction. A professor emeritus of political science at Boston University, he lives with his wife, Roslyn, in the Boston area, near their children and grandchildren. (Publisher Provided) show less
Image credit: Photo by Robert Birnbaum (courtesy of the photographer)
Works by Howard Zinn
A Young People's History of the United States, Volume 1: Columbus to the Spanish-American War (2009) 149 copies
A Young People's History of the United States, Volume 2: Class Struggle to the War on Terror (2007) 128 copies
Three Strikes: Miners, Musicians, Salesgirls, and the Fighting Spirit of Labor's Last Century (2001) 87 copies
A People's History of the United States, Abridged Teaching Edition, Updated Edition (2003) 74 copies
A People's History of the United States, Vol. 2: The Civil War to the Present, Teaching Edition (2003) 32 copies
Three Plays: The Political Theater of Howard Zinn: Emma, Marx in Soho, Daughter of Venus (2010) 29 copies
A People's History of the United States, Vol. 1: American Beginnings to Reconstruction, Teaching Edition (2003) 26 copies
The New Abolitionists: SNCC 1 copy
Estados Unidos. Por qué tener esperanzas en tiempos difíciles (Sediciones) (Spanish Edition) (1998) 1 copy
The Conspiracy of Law 1 copy
Associated Works
Everything You Know Is Wrong: The Disinformation Guide to Secrets and Lies (2002) — Contributor — 981 copies
You Are Being Lied To: The Disinformation Guide to Media Distortion, Historical Whitewashes, and Cultural Myths (2001) — Contributor, some editions — 693 copies
Take My Advice: Letters to the Next Generation from People Who Know a Thing or Two (2002) — Contributor — 44 copies
Democracy in Print: The best of the Progressive Magazine, 1909-2009 (2009) — Contributor — 14 copies
Transforming Teacher Unions : Fighting for Better Schools and Social Justice (1999) — Contributor — 11 copies
Three American Radicals: John Swinton, Charles P. Steinmetz, and William Dean Howells (1991) — Foreword — 6 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Zinn, Howard
- Legal name
- Zinn, Howard
- Birthdate
- 1922-08-24
- Date of death
- 2010-01-27
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Brooklyn, New York, USA
- Place of death
- Santa Monica, California, USA
- Cause of death
- heart attack
- Places of residence
- Newton, Massachusetts, USA
Auburndale, Massachusetts, USA - Education
- New York University (BA|1951)
Columbia University (MA|1952|PhD|1958) - Occupations
- historian
university professor
political activist - Relationships
- Zinn, Jeff (son)
- Organizations
- Spelman College
Boston University
U.S. Army Air Corps - Awards and honors
- Thomas Merton Award
Eugene V. Debs Award
Lannan Literary Award (Nonfiction, 1998)
Upton Sinclair Award (1999)
Haven's Center Award for Lifetime Contribution to Critical Scholarship (2006) - Short biography
- Howard Zinn (August 24, 1922 – January 27, 2010) was an American historian, playwright, and socialist thinker. He was chair of the history and social sciences department at Spelman College, and a political science professor at Boston University. Zinn wrote over 20 books, including his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United States. In 2007, he published a version of it for younger readers, A Young People's History of the United States.
Zinn described himself as "something of an anarchist, something of a socialist. Maybe a democratic socialist." He wrote extensively about the Civil Rights Movement, the anti-war movement and labor history of the United States. His memoir, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train (Beacon Press, 2002), was also the title of a 2004 documentary about Zinn's life and work. Zinn died of a heart attack in 2010, at age 87.
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Howard Zinn RIP in Radical History (September 2011)
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Statistics
- Works
- 79
- Also by
- 21
- Members
- 22,799
- Popularity
- #929
- Rating
- 4.1
- Reviews
- 252
- ISBNs
- 317
- Languages
- 15
- Favorited
- 99
It seems that the only reason the U.S. ever provides policies for the people is to create a buffer between the people it helps and those that threaten their power. Whether it is politicians gaining power, or special interest groups asking government to protect their wealth or power, the government helps take advantage of the people while making it seem that the policies help the people and are against the special interest. Whether it is to free slaves without giving freed slaves any political or economical freedom, or providing workers protection without any sort of enforcement or at worst helping to reduce workers rights, the policies vision is contrary to its implementation and effects. Wars fought claim to protect the national interest but actually protect the interest of the few. Opposition to the United States borne of intervention policies.
When the author discerns incentives and underlying interests alongside those affected, the book is extremely interesting and hold true to the main point of the book. When the author makes a claim about a portion of those affected and provides an overwhelming amount of events, the book becomes a bit dull as to belabor an idea. When the author belabors particular events that have already been made, it creates a disproportion view of the affected wrongly. When describing events, the author rarely states the other side of the story or if he does, only in passing.… (more)