Howard Zinn's A Review of A People’s History of The United States

A Review of A People’s History of

The United States

A People’s History of the United States concentrates on the personal experiences

and struggles of people who lived in the United States from 1492-present. It is a view of

history from the common man’s perspective, rather than the view of the leaders and

upper class of this country.

The book revolves around the views of history from the oppressed point of view.

Howard Zinn makes it clear from the beginning that he will value the views and

experiences of the oppressed over the view of the oppressor. He describes the conquest

from the point of view of the Native American population. He describes slavery in the

south from the point of view of the slave. He describes industrialization from the point of

view of the workers on the shop floor. He describes World War II from the point of view

of the soldiers on the front lines. He describes the Vietnam War from the point of

view of the Vietnamese. You have to realize that these are his views of history as he sees

them, and is only one side of the story.

There is no such thing as unbiased, balanced, truthful history. History is in the eye

of the teller. In this case, Howard Zinn’s view of the history of this great country is

extremely Marxist. He seems to pick and choose historical data that fits his agenda in an

attempt to evoke an emotional response from the reader. He does make some good points

pertaining to injustices and misconceptions regarding the idealistic view of history, but

unrealistic perceptions are made of the founding and progress of this country. You have

to ask yourself, which is more important, that Columbus made his way to America or

that he treated the Indians horribly when he got here ? Which is more important,

that the Declaration of Independence states, that “all men are created equal” or the fact

that the author of the Declaration owned hundreds of slaves?

Zinn seems to argue that we cannot end evils like genocide, exploitation, and

abuse until we “face” them ... drag them into the light of day. To that point we are in

complete agreement. But, the very heart of Zinn's “history” is distorted. To use the two

most obvious examples; he condemns Columbus for genocide and America for slavery.

However, on the genocidal...

... middle of paper ...

...merous atrocities against

American soldiers during the war(the infamous POW camps). In my opinion Zinn is too

busy spreading anti-American propaganda, to realize these facts or is just unwilling to

acknowledge them.

To put it bluntly, please spare me the bleeding heart liberal slant on history, life

isn’t fair, period. Without this country and the principles it was founded on, life would

indeed be more miserable and similar to the millions of people who are currently

suffering in Third world countries, or under the hammer of communism. There isn’t a

country in this world that doesn’t have skeletons in their closet. For a country that had

and still has so many problems (according to Zinn), I think we turned out to be just fine.

Things in our society will never be perfect, but we keep striving to make things better and

our citizens are granted the freedoms of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That’s

what makes this the greatest country in the world today. For those people who want to

rewrite history, let history speak for itself, good or bad and don't inflate or deflate it

according to your own personal agenda.