Howard Zinn died today of a heart attack. He was 87. The AP published a short biography in memorium.
Published in 1980 with little promotion and a first printing of 5,000, “A People’s History” was, fittingly, a people’s best-seller, attracting a wide audience through word of mouth and reaching 1 million sales in 2003. Although Professor Zinn was writing for a general readership, his book was taught in high schools and colleges throughout the country, and numerous companion editions were published, including “Voices of a People’s History,” a volume for young people and a graphic novel.
“A People’s History” told an openly left-wing story. Professor Zinn accused Christopher Columbus and other explorers of committing genocide, picked apart presidents from Andrew Jackson to Franklin D. Roosevelt and celebrated workers, feminists and war resisters.
A full-text HTML version of A People’s History can be found at History is a Weapon.
I’ve been listening this evening to a talk he gave at Reed College, November 20, 1995 which I found at pdxjustice, a good source for social justice-themed media productions. Zinn’s talk at Reed, You Can’t Be Neutral On A Moving Train is laced with quite a bit of humor; it’s an entertaining exposition of his belief that a story, truly told, can not be divorced from a point of view.
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And in our public school my daughters had a teacher that used this to teach.
Bet that’s so rare now as to be considered almost like finding a diamond. But this did even more in shaping their understandings of what learning can be.
Sad and what a figure.
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