Anonymous
Posted September 14, 2009
I highly recommend Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen's "A Patriot's History of the United States". You get all the history and none of Mr. Zinn's obvious Marxist disdain for capitalism and traditional American values.
40 out of 119 people found this review helpful.
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Posted October 23, 2006
Written with the extensive use of primary quotes allowing the reader to experience American history from the perspective of those who lived it, 'A People¿s History...' is one of the best books on American history that I have read. Zinn¿s use of language makes it exciting to read and easy to side with the oppressed groups of people throughout history. Zinn tells the story from the perspective of the underdog, which is a nice break from the normal history of the conqueror. Those who criticize the book as ¿socialist¿ need to open their minds and realize that the sugar-coated version of American history that they received during primary and secondary school was inaccurate and biased towards the status quo. Of course this is only one book, but one that is absolutely necessary to read for anyone who truly wants to understand our nation¿s past.
40 out of 51 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 11, 2010
While it is true that every historian approaches his or her subject through a particular point of view, this history is shockingly void of true historical analysis and is a Fox News version of history from the left. The ominous, omni-present "elite" who are never really identified and who are somehow always causing oppression and suffering read as a paranoid historical fantasy.
That this was Zinn's only work that received any major attention or recognition is notable and indicative of an author, not a historian. He's a one-hit wonder who satisfied a momentary impulse and craving; it's only for the extremist, however, that his work represents a lasting piece of substantive history. For some, "Take on Me" is a classically likeable song. To assert that a-ha is a great band that created a lasting piece of great music, however, is indicative of a person disconnected from reality. So, too, is Mr. Zinn's A People's History - perhaps appealing to some for its underlying point of view, but not a serious piece of history.
37 out of 94 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.This is the worst book about American history I have ever read. It is slanted, and totally unreliable.
36 out of 107 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 6, 2009
This is the text used in my current college U.S. History class; I read it cover to cover before the class started.<BR/><BR/>It really is a well researched and captivating read. Very informative, yet intertaining.<BR/><BR/>This book has a bad wrap as being "socialist" and "antigovernment" and that may be true, however when one looks at the history of our governmental crimes and downfall, it's impossible to write anything other and a cold, clinical text without "slamming" the goverment. I also feel the need to point out that much of our history centers around socialist movements so it's really no surprize the socialist tone of the book.<BR/><BR/>Over all, Zinn is very clear about the spin, if you can even call it that, of the book straight from the title! The book is titles "A People's History Of The United States." This is a text of the have-nots. A historical book from the view of the nonaristocratic and nonpolitical society. Those of you who feel the need to put down the book because of it's perspective should ask yourselves. Am I being fair? Is Zinn really telling tails an wrongly slamming the government? Or is he telling history from a perspective which, while everyone may not understand/enjoy, is in fact historically correct and insitefull to the lives of those who were disadvantaged? <BR/><BR/>In conclusion, it's a great book that everyone should take the opportunity to read. Though I also think, because of it's perspective, it is innappropriate to base one's entire historical education/opinion on.
35 out of 47 people found this review helpful.
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Posted July 11, 2007
I'll be the first to admit that no history book offers up 'the straight facts' as our civics teachers of old would like us to believe. Books are written to educate, to entertain, and above all - thanks to publishing houses - to sell. Professor Zinn's work has managed and (with this new edition) hopefully will continue to manage to be different from the majority of history texts in the fact that it does all three of these things spectacularly well. While some readers will claim that there is a strong anti-capitalist bias, there is no denying that Professor Zinn has done his research and consequently presents a compellingly fresh view of the evolution of the United States of America. If you are offended by the idea that the founders of our great nation had more in mind than noble speeches of revolution and a burning desire for an untaxed cup of tea, then by all means, curl up by the fire with a text that will convince you George Washington never told a lie. If, however, you can accept the idea that there might be more to the story, Professor Zinn's book is an excellent place to start.
35 out of 44 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 11, 2010
This book is always on display in bookstores and assigned in high schools and colleges across the country. That is a sad commentary on the state of our educational system, for this is a materialist left wing history book that is full of untruths and distortions. So if your are sympathetic to such things, this is the book for you. If you want a sane view of US history, look elsewhere.
34 out of 97 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 13, 2010
While it delivers on the stated purpose of American History from one viewpoint, it should not be considered the definitive,authoritative view of American History. It should be considered as a creative opinion piece. History, in reality, is not one-sided. There are good people who do bad things, and bad people who do good things. In seeking to truly understand history, a reader must understand multiple viewpoints and come to their own, balanced, conclusion. This book doesn't attempt to go there. Heed the title's warning...it is very one-sided (often subtly twisting reality to come to negative conclusions). There's enough negative about American History to feel a need to twist good things about American History. I, personally, couldn't stomach very much. It would be irresponsible to present this book as anything more than it is, one opinion of many.
26 out of 59 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 9, 2007
We learn our history through our textbooks. But it is controlled and limited. We are taught what only what they want to teach. Often times the struggles of the daily lives of those whom are affected the most are never heard or limited to a paragraph in a chapter of a history book. This is their voice. A different perspective that should make us all rethink our 'proud' american history. I recommend this to anyone who wants to extend their knowledge beyond the textbooks.
25 out of 34 people found this review helpful.
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Posted January 8, 2009
I think the most important think to keep in mind (and I do think this is a wonderful book) is that it IS one perspective, it IS informative--and then you really ought to go back and read more traditional histories of the US. Because either way you need to be well-rounded, and you simply cannot be without a basic knowledge of American history in the first place. This would build on that nicely. I would suggest reading some other non-fiction on American history instead of just one book. Read a good book about Ben Franklin, read a book about the Constitution or the Civil War. Because everyone in American belongs to one "Cry Me a River" group or another. And it's EASIER to read about that and forget that the founding of this country is also very exciting. Lewis and Clark and the railroad and all the rest of it. You just need to approach this from more than one direction.
24 out of 32 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 13, 2010
I Also Recommend:
Read the excerpt - and the title says it all! A true Marxist could not give this book a better title. It seems that this tome gives only one view of the country's history - a negative one. True, there are dark pages in our history. But comparatively speaking, this country's history is one that should make any American proud. Better alternatives are 1) A Patriot's History to the United States, or 2) America - The Last Best Hope. These volumes outline both bright and dark pages in our history, but emphasize what makes this place the best place on Earth to live.
22 out of 66 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.I read the book knowing beforehand it was written with an agenda behind it(which by the way could not possibly have been to offer a balanced history of the U.S. If you think that, why would Zinn be the very first best-selling author to present these perspectives?). The book met my expectations, which were not high. The other reviewers, both panners and ravers, have done more than vett the book's contents. My offering is this: it's not a U.S. issue, it's an issue of author demagoguery. A crafty (but not necessarily factual) author can write this sort of counter current "history" about any group or society if they work hard, as Zinn does, to bias toward the negative and ignore the positive. I suggest Mr. Zinn try applying this creative technique to a "People's" history of American Unions or the Democratic Party, and see how fast the avid fans among these reviewers turn sour on Mr. Zinn.
16 out of 47 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 20, 2010
A fundamental, precious book not only for American People, especially including also central and south American People, but also worldwide. Based on the precise, detailed reconstruction of the other side of the History, from the point of view of victims, clearly uncover the true nature of the dominating class and the mechanisms of accumulation of capital. Especially timely rigth now where many federal resources are allocated to save corporations first.
15 out of 21 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 20, 2010
Thanks to B & N's web site, I decided to read the material available here without purchasing the book. So, I grant that my analysis is grossly incomplete...and so it will stay. I wouldn't read this book if I were paid to do so...well okay, I would read this from cover to cover for about $100. (Damn me for my capitalistic inclinations!) From the first few sentences, Zinn betrays his rather pronounced biases. This isn't history, it's a skewed and distorted observation of what the author claims are facts. Where are the annotations and citations of sources? We are to take Professor(?) Zinn at his word here? This is what happened because he tells us so. No scholarly approach to the telling of history would be so negligent, but those who endorse this tome would have us accept that this is the truth. I suspect that this is only the case because they endorse the ideas contained in the book - that this somehow validates their cynical and derogatory view of the United States. Perhaps this would be better titled "A Victim's History of the United States" because it reeks of the sort of entitlement perspective that is today so prevalent and that leads to the belief in those who subscribe to such thinking that they are somehow owed something by virtue of their mere existence. Zinn tells, what I believe in all fairness (NOT something this book attempts to address - fairness, that is) is one acceptable perspective to viewing the history of one of the more successful cultures and governments in modern history. But to assert that this is a fairer or better or more accurate view is simply absurd...or worse, perverse. I really liked the writing style, however. And the story is compelling. But it is, I suspect, mostly that - a story born of certain hand-picked and self-serving facts, not the truth (whatever that is).
14 out of 55 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 8, 2008
I read this book, as it was assigned to my daughters high school class. As an avid reader and researcher of US history, I would recommend this book for the trash bin only. The writer is not concerned with nor a scholar of actual history. He inserts his own interpretations of events and then trys, inadequately I might add to back that up by what he deems are examples of that particular event. He clearly has a socialist/communist agenda and tries to pawn his views off as representing the people of the US.
14 out of 53 people found this review helpful.
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Posted January 29, 2004
My history teacher made my class read 'A People's History'. He assigned us readings according to what we were studying ie. Civil War goes with Slavery Without submission, Emancipation Without Freedom. I found this book to be enjoyable. Sometimes some unexpected humor arose from his writeings. Although i disagreed with some of his ideas, i respect him for his works.
14 out of 31 people found this review helpful.
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Posted August 29, 2009
While I knew that the history books used in schools did not tell the whole and truthful version of events throuhout history, I was mildly shocked by the information in this book. The author presents an eye opening view of the buliding of a country on the backs of its people in a not to kindly fashion.Through out history people have been exploited, and trod upon for the good of corporate america. When the populus becomes restless and tries to better thier position in any county, the people in power will try to prevent it in any manner posible, legal or not, as shown in this book. While we live in which I believe is the greatest country in the world, This book shows we could do better, The skirts of liberty and justice are not lily white. This book should be required reading in all schools along with the regular curiculum and let the reader decide.
13 out of 21 people found this review helpful.
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Posted July 11, 2009
the sad but unfortunately true version of our history.
13 out of 22 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 22, 2010
I Also Recommend:
This is a refreshing take on history from the point of view of the people of America who acted as a catalyst to change, rather than from that of the leaders and the government that acted on it. It is quite inspiring and is a testament to the power one person's words can carry. Highly recommended.
12 out of 18 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 6, 2010
Makes an excellent gift for an advanced highschool student or university student of American history.
11 out of 18 people found this review helpful.
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More About This Textbook
Overview
A classic since its original landmark publicationin 1980, Howard Zinn’s A People’sHistory of the United States is the firstscholarly work to tell America’s story from thebottom up—from the point of view of, and inthe words of, America’s women, factory workers,African Americans, Native Americans, workingpoor, and immigrant laborers. From Columbus tothe Revolution to slavery and the Civil War—fromWorld War II to the election of George W. Bushand the “War on Terror”—A People’s History of theUnited States is an important and necessary contributionto a complete and balanced understandingof American history.
Open-minded readers will prophet from Professor Zinn's account, and historians may view it as a step toward a coherent new version of American history.
Editorial Reviews
From Barnes & Noble
Almost 700 pages long, this completely revised and updated edition brings a populist classic kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Written by an activist historian, A People's History presents dimensions of American history formerly glossed over in the high textbooks. (P.S. In previous editions, this lively book has sold more than 300,000 copies!)Product Details
Related Subjects
Meet the Author
Howard Zinn (1922-2010) was a historian, playwright, and social activist. His many books include A People's History of the United States, which has sold more than two million copies.
Read an Excerpt
Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress
Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the island's beaches and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food, water, gifts. He later wrote of this in his log:
These Arawaks of the Bahama Islands were much like Indians on the mainland, who were remarkable (European observers were to say again and again) for their hospitality, their belief in sharing. These traits did not stand out in the Europe of the Renaissance, dominated as it was by the religion of popes, the government of kings, the frenzy for money that marked Western civilization and its first messenger to the Americas, Christopher Columbus.
The information that Columbus wanted most was: Where is the gold? He had persuaded the king and queen of Spain to finance an expedition to the lands, the wealth, he expected would be on the other side of the Atlantic—the Indies and Asia, gold and spices. For, like other informed people of his time, he knew the world was round and he could sail west in order to get to the Far East.
Spain was recently unified, one of the new modem nation-states, like France, England, and Portugal. Its population, mostly poor peasants, worked for the nobility, who were 2 percent of the population and owned 95 percent of the land. Spain had tied itself to the, Catholic Church, expelled all the Jews, driven out the Moors. Like other states of the modem world, Spain sought gold, which was becoming the new mark of wealth, more useful than land because it could buy anything.
There was gold in Asia, it was thought, and certainly silks and spices, for Marco Polo and others had brought back marvelous things from their overland expeditions centuries before. Now that the Turks had conquered Constantinople and the eastern Mediterranean, and controlled the land routes to Asia, a sea route was needed. Portuguese sailors were working their way around the southern tip of Africa. Spain decided to gamble on a long sail across an unknown ocean.
In return for bringing back gold and spices, they promised Columbus 10 percent of the profits, governorship over new-found lands, and the fame that would go with a new title: Admiral of the Ocean Sea. He was a merchant's clerk from the Italian city of Genoa, part-time weaver (the son of a skilled weaver), and expert sailor. He set out with three sailing ships, the largest of which was the Santa Maria, perhaps 100 feet long, and thirty-nine crew members.
Columbus would never have made it to Asia, which was thousands of miles farther away than he had calculated, imagining a smaller world. He would have been doomed by that great expanse of sea. But he was lucky. One-fourth of the way there he came upon an unknown, uncharted land that lay between Europe and Asia—the Americas. It was early October 1492, and thirty-three days since he and his crew had left the Canary Islands, off the Atlantic coast of Africa. Now they saw branches and sticks floating in the water. They saw flocks of birds. These were signs of land. Then, on October 12, a sailor called Rodrigo saw the early morning moon shining on white sands, and cried out. It was an island in the Bahamas, the Caribbean sea. The first man to sight land was supposed to get a yearly pension of 10,000 maravedis for life, but Rodrigo never got it. Columbus claimed he had seen a light the evening before. He got the reward.
So, approaching land, they were met by the Arawak Indians, who swam out to greet them. The Arawaks lived in village communes, had a developed agriculture of corn, yams, cassava. They could spin and weave, but they had no horses or work animals. They had no iron, but they wore tiny gold ornaments in their ears.
This was to have enormous consequences: it led Columbus to take some of them aboard ship as prisoners because he insisted that they guide him to the source of the gold. He then sailed to what is now Cuba, then to Hispaniola (the island which today consists of Haiti and the Dominican Republic). There, bits of visible gold in the rivers, and a gold mask presented to Columbus by a local Indian chief, led to wild visions of gold fields.
On Hispaniola, out of timbers from the Santa Maria, which had run aground, Columbus built a fort, the first European military base in the Western Hemisphere. He called it Navidad (Christmas) and left thirty-nine crewmembers there, with instructions to find and store the gold. He took more Indian prisoners and put them aboard his two remaining ships. At one part of the island he got into a fight with Indians who refused to trade as many bows and arrows as he and his men wanted. Two were run through with swords and bled to death. Then the Nina and the Pinta set sail for the Azores and Spain. When the weather turned cold, the Indian prisoners began to die...
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