Howard Zinn A People's History Summary

Howard Zinn’s A People’s History is a portrayal and view of Europeans coming to the Americas. He discusses the treatment of Indians and history’s inaccurate depiction of Christopher Columbus. Zinn describes Columbus as dishonest and cruel to his crewmates and the Indians. In contrast, Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen portray the exploration of the New World as a necessity in history. They address the violence and bloodshed that happened as an essential part of colonization. Howard Zinn creates a stronger argument than Schweikart and Allen because he looks at both perspectives of Christopher Columbus, focuses on the social injustices, and presents a view of history from the perspective of the common people.

Zinn begins with the culture and hospitality of the Arawak Indians, such as bringing Columbus and his sailors gifts and food when they reached the island. This highly contrasts with Columbus’s description of the Indians. He described

Howard Zinn writes from the perspective of the common people and criticizes historians for dismissing the fact that mass murder happened. Oftentimes, countries conceal the conflict between conquerors and conquered because it’s easier to take the side of the hero (Zinn, 10). Zinn concentrates on the perspective of those who are usually overlooked in traditional history. However, Schweikart and Allen celebrate the achievements of navigation and try to justify the settlers killing millions of Native Americans. Although they acknowledge the accusations of Christopher Columbus being a mass murderer, they still downplay the deaths of Indians. They claim that the number of Natives who were killed were pure estimations and that generally numbers in the Indian culture were overestimated (Schweikart and Allen, 9). Zinn’s emphasis on the perspective of the common people proves the importance of looking at all sides of the