Howard Zinn, Dead at 87

[evil tendencies]

Washington Post story here.

I don't know how I feel about this. I hated his "People's History" when I read it in 11th grade. I didn't like that an admitted piece of propaganda was being sold as a history, though my bigger problem was that my teacher presented it to us as such. But this was also a white guy who stood up for civil rights in this country long before it was the popular thing to do, in much the same vein as Charlton Heston, and that says something about his intentions.

I'm not meaning to start a fight here - I just thought I'd share the news along with my own experience of his work.

 

[skeeve]

Washington Post story here.

I don't know how I feel about this. I hated his "People's History" when I read it in 11th grade. I didn't like that an admitted piece of propaganda was being sold as a history, though my bigger problem was that my teacher presented it to us as such. But this was also a white guy who stood up for civil rights in this country long before it was the popular thing to do, in much the same vein as Charlton Heston, and that says something about his intentions.

I'm not meaning to start a fight here - I just thought I'd share the news along with my own experience of his work.

His People's History wasn't half bad if you know how to read it and use couple of alternative complementary sources. He never intended it to be a comprehensive history treatment but rather an analysis of a specific point of view.