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A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present |  | Author: Howard Zinn
Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
Category: Book
List Price: $18.99
Buy New: $10.23
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Rating:  724 reviews
Sales Rank: 125
Media: Paperback
Edition: Later printing
Pages: 768
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 1.4
ISBN: 0060838655
Dewey Decimal Number: 973
EAN: 9780060838652
ASIN: 0060838655
Publication Date: August 1, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
Consistently lauded for its lively, readable prose, this revised and updated edition of A People's History of the United States turns traditional textbook history on its head. Howard Zinn infuses the often-submerged voices of blacks, women, American Indians, war resisters, and poor laborers of all nationalities into this thorough narrative that spans American history from Christopher Columbus's arrival to an afterword on the Clinton presidency. Addressing his trademark reversals of perspective, Zinn--a teacher, historian, and social activist for more than 20 years--explains, "My point is not that we must, in telling history, accuse, judge, condemn Columbus in absentia. It is too late for that; it would be a useless scholarly exercise in morality. But the easy acceptance of atrocities as a deplorable but necessary price to pay for progress (Hiroshima and Vietnam, to save Western civilization; Kronstadt and Hungary, to save socialism; nuclear proliferation, to save us all)--that is still with us. One reason these atrocities are still with us is that we have learned to bury them in a mass of other facts, as radioactive wastes are buried in containers in the earth." If your last experience of American history was brought to you by junior high school textbooks--or even if you're a specialist--get ready for the other side of stories you may not even have heard. With its vivid descriptions of rarely noted events, A People's History of the United States is required reading for anyone who wants to take a fresh look at the rich, rocky history of America.
Product Description
Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, A People's History of the United States is the only volume to tell America's story from the point of view of -- and in the words of -- America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, working poor, and immigrant laborers. This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Excelent March 10, 2010
Wilhelm (Mexico City, Mexico)
As soon as I received my book I had to use it, and I must say it's been more than I expected, the reading is easy and understandable for a non native speaker like me. Professor Zinn shows history from the point of view of the "nobodies", the forgotten ones, which gives the reader a wider view of the real history of the United States, not everything is "freedom" and "democracy" my friends... I am sure I am going to enjoy this book a lot!
Peoples History of the US March 9, 2010
Marcia Laris (palo alto, ca)
Wonderful book, arrived in perfect condition, imparts the truth about our history, which we never learned in school.
Informative Book March 9, 2010
Terry Z. (New York, NY)
This book presents a history of the United States that is not taught in schools or universities. It provides a history of our country from the views and experiences of regular people, such as blacks, women, and laborers.
History as it should be taught. March 6, 2010
R. C. PLEGER (Mulegé, Baja California Sur)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This should be required reading for all High School US History students. Gives a whole new look at what is being taught or isn't being taught today...
A Different Angle March 6, 2010
Peter B. Stewart (Redmond, WA USA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Howard Zinn died a few weeks ago, and on NPR, David Horowitz was asked to comment on his death. I have never heard less charitable comments about the recently deceased. Curiosity piqued, I googled "Howard Zinn" "David Horowitz" and found links to David Horowitz' website where I found words about Zinn that made Horowitz' comments to NPR seem very measured indeed. Since I consider Horowitz to be a knee-jerk conservative fanatic, I thought, "Wow, Zinn must be pretty good stuff!"
So I purchased A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, I have just finished reading it, and now I can recommend it. Zinn is up front about his bias in the book's introduction. On his website, David Horowitz accused Zinn of being a Stalinist, which is preposterous, but Zinn would proudly label himself a socialist. However, Zinn means it with a degree of ideological purity not to be found in this world. It is the dream of a pure socialist society that Zinn unabashedly longs for (a society, I might add, that would embody more truly Christian values than we find today in this, our "Christian nation", as some call it), and he wastes no time pointing out that the U.S.A. has never approached his ideal. Zinn makes no bones of his distaste for capitalism.
I am not a socialist, and I disagree with much of Zinn's philosopy; why would I recommend such a biased book? I recommend it because, as Zinn points out at the beginning, all accounts of history are biased, and this account has the virtue of not being the whitewashed, sanitized version we all learned in public school. This is not a comfortable book to read if you are a privileged white male. It is not a happy book for any reader, but the course of history hasn't been particularly happy. This book will not make you proud to be an American. Many times I found myself saying, "But, wait, we're not as bad as..." However, Zinn's aim isn't to compare America to other countries; it is to describe us as we are and as we have been. Yes, from a point of view with a decided bias, but a point of view that has merit and is worth considering.
A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES was first published in 1980, and the original chapters are the strongest. The final version published before his death continues the history through the events of 9/11/2001, but some of the later chapters don't seem to be quite as cogent; at times, Zinn seems to have to strain to make his point. And small factual errors creep in; he describes an anti-nuclear protest in 1999 taking place at the Trident submarine base in Bangor, Maine.
If you are going to read only one book on American history, should it be A PEOPLE'S HISTORY? No. And that's the point. If you are going to read only one book on American history, save yourself the trouble and read Danielle Steele or Tom Clancy instead. A balanced view of history requires more than one point of view, but too often the only point of view we get is the orthodoxy. Read lots of books of American history, but if you plan to read only a handful, then A People's History of the United States should be one of them.
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