Howard Zinn

Howard Zinn
File:Zinn.jpg Howard Zinn
Born	(1922-08-24) August 24, 1922 Brooklyn, New York
Occupation(s)	Professor, Historian, Playwright
Spouse	Roslyn Zinn

Howard Zinn (born August 24, 1922 - October 11th [2007]]) is an American historian, political scientist, social critic, activist and playwright, best known as author of the bestseller, A People's History of the United States.

Zinn's philosophy incorporates ideas from Marxism, anarchism, socialism, and social democracy. Since the 1960s, he has been active in the Civil Rights and anti-war movements in the United States.

The author of some 20 books, Zinn is currently Professor Emeritus in the Political Science Department at Boston University. He lives in the Auburndale neighborhood of Newton, Massachusetts with his wife Roslyn. The couple have two children, Myla and Jeff, and five grandchildren. Roslyn is an artist and editor who has had a role in editing all of Zinn's books.

Education and early career

Education:

• B.A., New York University, 1951.
• M.A. and Ph.D., Columbia University, 1952, 1958.
• Post-doctoral Fellow, Harvard University, 1960-61.

Early career:

• Professor of History, Spelman College, Atlanta, Ga. 1956-1963.
• Professor of Political Science, Boston University, 1964-1988.

• Military Service: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Corps, Bombardier, flew combat missions in Europe, 1943-45.

Listings: Who's Who in America, Dictionary of International Biography.

Civil Rights movement

In 1956, Zinn was appointed chairman of the department of history and social sciences at Spelman College, where he participated in the Civil Rights movement. For example, Zinn lobbied with historian August Meier "to end the practice of the Southern Historical Association of holding meetings at segregated hotels.

At Spelman, Zinn served as an adviser to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and later wrote a book about SNCC.

Also at Spelman, Zinn collaborated with historian Staughton Lynd and mentored young student activists, among them writer Alice Walker and Marian Wright Edelman. Although Zinn was a tenured professor, he was dismissed, in June 1963, after siding with students in their desire to challenge Spelman's traditional emphasis of turning out "young ladies" when, as Zinn described in an article in The Nation, Spelman students were likely to be found on the picket line, or in jail for participating in the greater effort to break down segregation in public places in Atlanta. Zinn's years at Spelman are recounted in his autobiography You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times. His seven years at Spelman College, Zinn said, "are probably the most interesting, exciting, most educational years for me. I learned more from my students than my students learned from me." [3]

Zinn said that while at Spelman, he observed thirty violations of the First and Fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution in Albany, Georgia, including the rights to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and equal protection of the laws. In an article on the civil rights movement in Albany, Zinn describes the people who participated in the Freedom Rides to end segregation, and of the reluctance of President John F. Kennedy to enforce the law.[4] Zinn has also pointed out that the Justice Department under Robert F. Kennedy and the Federal Bureau of Investigation headed by J. Edgar Hoover, did little to nothing to stop the segregationists from brutalizing the civil rights workers.[5]

Zinn wrote frequently about the struggle for civil rights, both as a participant and historian [6] and in 1960-61, he took a year off from teaching to write SNCC: The New Abolitionists and The Southern Mystique. [7] In his book on SNCC, Zinn describes how the sit-ins against segregation were initiated by students and, in that sense, independent of the older, more established civil rights organizations.

Anti-war efforts

Fresh from writing two books about his research, observations about and participation in the Civil Rights movement in the South, Zinn accepted a position in the political science department at Boston University in 1964. His classes in civil liberties were among the most popular classes offered at BU with as many as 400 students subscribing each semester to the non-required class. He taught at BU for 24 years and retired in 1988. Zinn wrote one of the earliest books calling for the U.S. withdrawal from its war in Viet Nam. VietNam: The Logic of Withdrawal was published by Beacon Press in 1967 after articles that would later form the basis for the book had appeared first in Commonweal, The Nation, The Register-Leader, and Ramparts.

Zinn's anti-war stance was, in part, informed by his own experiences in the military. In April, 1945, he participated in one of the first military use of napalm, which took place in Royan, France.

File:Howard Zinn bombardier England 1945.jpg

2nd Lieut. Howard Zinn, bombardier, Army Air Force in England, 1945.

The bombings were aimed at German soldiers who were, in Zinn's words, hiding and waiting out the closing days of the war. The attacks killed not only the German soldiers but also French civilians. Nine years later, Zinn visited Royan to examine documents and interview residents. In his books, The Politics of History and The Zinn Reader, he described how the bombing was ordered at the war's end by decision-makers most probably motivated by the desire for career advancement rather than for legitimate military objectives.

Zinn said his experience as a bombardier, combined with his research into the reasons for and effects of the bombing of Royan, sensitized him to the ethical dilemmas faced by G.I.s during wartime.[8] Zinn questioned the justifications for military operations inflicting civilian casualties in the Allied bombing of cities such as Dresden, Royan, Tokyo, and Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II, Hanoi during the U.S. war in Vietnam, and Baghdad during the U.S. war in Iraq. In his pamphlet "Hiroshima: Breaking the Silence", Zinn laid out the case against targeting civilians.[9]

Vietnam

Zinn's diplomatic visit to Hanoi with Rev. Daniel Berrigan, during the Tet Offensive in January 1968, resulted in the return of three American airmen, the first American POWs released by the North Vietnamese since the U.S. bombing of that nation had begun. The event was widely reported in the news media and discussed in a variety of books including Who Spoke Up? American Protest Against the War in Vietnam 1963-1975 by Nancy Zaroulis and Gerald Sullivan [(Horizon Book Promotions: 1989) ISBN 0-385-17547-7]. Zinn remained friends and allies with the brothers Dan and Philip over the years.

Daniel Ellsberg, a former RAND consultant who had secretly copied The Pentagon Papers, which described internal planning and policy decisions of the United States in the Vietnam War, gave a copy of them to Howard and Roslyn Zinn. [Ellsberg autobiography, Zinn autobiography] Along with Noam Chomsky, Zinn edited and annotated the copy of The Pentagon Papers that Ellsberg entrusted to him. Zinn's longtime publisher, Beacon Press, published what has come to be known as the Senator Mike Gravel edition of The Pentagon Papers, four volumes plus a fifth volume with analysis by Chomsky and Zinn.

At Ellsberg's criminal trial for theft, conspiracy, and espionage in connection with the publication of the Pentagon Papers by The New York Times, defense attorneys called Zinn as an expert witness to explain to the jury the history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam from World War II to 1963. Zinn discussed that history for several hours, later reflecting on his time before the jury. "I explained there was nothing in the papers of military significance that could be used to harm the defense of the United States, that the information in them was simply embarrassing to our government because what was revealed, in the government's own interoffice memos, was how it had lied to the American public. The secrets disclosed in the Pentagon Papers might embarrass politicians, might hurt the profits of corporations wanting tin, rubber, oil, in far-off places. But this was not the same as hurting the nation, the people," Zinn wrote in his autobiography. Most of the jurors later said they voted for acquittal. [p. 161] However, the federal judge dismissed the case on grounds it had been tainted by the burglary by President Richard M. Nixon's administration of the office of Ellsberg's psychiatrist.

Zinn's testimony as to the motivation for government secrecy was confirmed in 1989 by Erwin Griswold, who as U.S. solicitor general during the Nixon administration, prosecuted The New York Times in the Pentagon Papers case in 1971.["The lie behind the secrets" by Tom Blanton, May 21, 2006, Los Angeles Times] Griswold persuaded three Supreme Court justices to vote to stop The New York Times from continuing to publish the Pentagon Papers, an order known as "prior restraint" that has been held to be illegal under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The papers were simultaneously published in The Washington Post, effectively nulling the effect of the prior restraint order. In 1989, Griswold admitted there was no national security damage from publication of the papers.[10] [11] In a column in the Washington Post, Griswold wrote: "It quickly becomes apparent to any person who has considerable experience with classified material that there is massive over classification and that the principal concern of the classifiers is not with national security, but with governmental embarrassment of one sort or another."

Roslyn and Howard Zinn at Boston University 1967.

Zinn supported the G.I. antiwar movement during the U.S. war in Vietnam. In the 2001 film Unfinished Symphony, Zinn provides historical context for the 1971 antiwar march by Vietnam Veterans against the War. The marchers traveled from Lexington, Massachusetts, to Bunker Hill, "which retraced Paul Revere's ride of 1775 and ended in the massive arrest of 410 veterans and civilians by the Lexington police." The film depicts "scenes from the 1971 'Winter Soldier' investigations, during which former G.I.s testified about atrocities" they either participated in or witnessed in Vietnam. [12]

Iraq

Zinn opposed the invasion and occupation of Iraq, and has written several books about it. He asserts that the U.S. will end its war with, and occupation of Iraq when resistance within the military increases, in the same way resistance within the military contributed to ending the U.S. war in Vietnam. He compares the demand by a growing number of contemporary U.S. military families to end the war in Iraq to the parallel "in the Confederacy in the Civil War, when the wives of soldiers rioted because their husbands were dying and the plantation owners were profiting from the sale of cotton, refusing to grow grains for civilians to eat." [13]

"There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people for a purpose which is unattainable." "Terrorism Over Tripoli" from Zinn Reader, Seven Stories Press (1993) excerpted online

Jean-Christophe Agnew, Professor of History and American Studies at Yale University,[14] told the Yale Daily News in May 2007 that Zinn’s historical work is "highly influential and widely used". He observed that it is not unusual for prominent professors such as Zinn to weigh in on current events, citing a resolution opposing the war in Iraq that was recently ratified by the American Historical Association.[15] Agnew added, “In these moments of crisis, when the country is split — so historians are split.”

A People's History

Main article: A People's History of the United States

As a historian, Zinn found that the point of view expressed in traditional history books was often limited. He created a historical text, A People's History of the United States with the goal to provide other perspectives of American history. The text depicts the struggles of Native Americans against European and U.S. conquest and expansion, slaves against slavery, unionists and other workers against capitalists, women against patriarchy, and African-Americans for civil rights.

In the years since the first edition of A People's History was published in 1980, it has been used as an alternative to standard textbooks in many high school and college history courses, and is one of the most widely known examples of critical pedagogy. According to the New York Times Book Review it "routinely sells more than 100,000 copies a year".

In the spring of 2003, to commemorate the sale of the millionth copy of A People's History, a dramatic reading was held at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. The reading featured Danny Glover, Andre Gregory, James Earl Jones, actress Myla Pitt, Marisa Tomei, Kurt Vonnegut, Alice Walker, Alfre Woodard, Harris Yulin, Jeff Zinn, producing artistic director of the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater [16], and Howard Zinn as narrator. The event aired on Democracy Now!, and was hosted by Amy Goodman, and is online at Democracy Now The program was also released as a book and CD under the title, The People Speak: American Voices, Some Famous, Some Little Known.

Interwoven with commentary by Zinn, both the book and the dramatic reading upon which the newer book is based, includes passages from Zinn's research in A People's History of the United States on Christopher Columbus on the Arawaks; Plough Jogger, a farmer and participant in Shays' Rebellion; Harriet Hanson, a Lowell mill worker; Frederick Douglass; Mark Twain; Mother Jones; Emma Goldman; Helen Keller; Eugene V. Debs; Langston Hughes; Genova Johnson Dollinger on a sit-down strike at General Motors in Flint, Michigan; an interrogation from a 1953 HUAC hearing; Fannie Lou Hamer, a sharecropper and member of the Freedom Democratic Party; Malcolm X; and James Lawrence Harrington, a Gulf War resister, among others.

Kurt Vonnegut read the words of Mark Twain at the event celebrating the work of Zinn, a fellow World War II veteran. Vonnegut read from Twain, who spoke out after President Theodore Roosevelt congratulated a general involved in the 1906 Moro Crater massacre in the Philippines.

"It should, it seems to me, be our pleasure and duty to make these people free and let them deal with their own domestic questions in their own way; and so I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land," Vonnegut quoted Twain during the reading.

In 2004, Zinn published Voices of A People's History of the United States with Anthony Arnove. Voices expands on the concept and provides a large collection of dissident voices in long form. The book is intended as a companion to A People's History and parallels its structure.

Zinn was a consultant to the six-part documentary A People's History of the United States [17], a television series produced by Alvin H. Perlmutter. According to the documentary's website, the series is expected to be broadcast in 2007.

After years of requests from parents and teachers for a younger readers' version of A People's History, in July 2007 Seven Stories Press has published A Young People's History of the United States, a two-volume, illustrated adaptation of the original text for young adult readers (ages 10-14), updated through the end of 2006.

Critical reception

When A People's History of the United States was first published in 1980, the New York Times reviewer, Columbia University historian Eric Foner, described the book as filled with telling quotations and vivid descriptions of usually ignored events, and said that "Zinn writes with an enthusiasm rarely encountered in the leaden prose of academic history." However, referring to Zinn's focus on "the distinctive experience of blacks, women, Indians, workers and other neglected groups," Foner said, "The portrayal of these anonymous Americans is strangely circumscribed. Blacks, Indians, women and laborers appear either as rebels or as victims. Less dramatic but more typical lives — people struggling to survive with dignity in difficult circumstances — receive little attention", adding, "A People's History reflects a deeply pessimistic vision of the American experience." Summing up, Foner found the approach to be limited, and said further that the book needed "an integrated account incorporating Thomas Jefferson and his slaves, Andrew Jackson and the Indians, Woodrow Wilson and the Wobblies."

Writing in the Washington Post Book World, reviewer Michael Kammen, a professor of American History at Cornell, wrote: "I wish that I could pronounce Zinn's book a great success, but it is not. It is a synthesis of the radical and revisionist historiography of the past decade. . . Not only does the book read like a scissors and paste-pot job, but even less attractive, so much attention to historians, historiography and historical polemic leaves precious little space for the substance of history. . . . We do deserve a people's history; but not a singleminded, simpleminded history, too often of fools, knaves and Robin Hoods. We need a judicious people's history because the people are entitled to have their history whole; not just those parts that will anger or embarrass them. . . . If that is asking for the moon, then we will cheerfully settle for balanced history."

In a 2004 article in Dissent critiquing the 5th edition of A People's History of the United States, Georgetown University history professor Michael Kazin argued that Zinn's book is too focused on class conflict, and wrongly attributes sinister motives to the American political elite. He also characterized the book as an overly simplistic narrative of elite villains and oppressed people, with no attempt to understand historical actors in the context of the time in which they lived. Kazin writes, "The ironic effect of such portraits of rulers is to rob 'the people' of cultural richness and variety, characteristics that might gain the respect and not just the sympathy of contemporary readers. For Zinn, ordinary Americans seem to live only to fight the rich and haughty and, inevitably, to be fooled by them." Kazin argues further that A People's History fails to explain why the American political-economic model continues to attract millions of minorities, women, workers, and immigrants, or why the socialist and radical political movements Zinn favors have failed to gain widespread support among the American public.

Responding to Kazin's criticism, Dale McCartney, editor of the Canadian online magazine, Seven Oaks, writes:

Zinn is not neglecting a more objective perspective on American history; he's rejecting it in favor of an openly political stance that reclaims the history of oppressed peoples, regardless of race or gender. His popularity is testament to both the appeal of such a reading of American history, and the desperate thirst of working class people, people of colour, women and the many other victims of modern society's ravages for a history in which they are at the centre. I would go so far as to argue that not only has Kazin underestimated the importance of this role for Zinn's book, but that the academic tradition of objectivity (read: liberalism that favors white men) has played a key role in marginalizing oppressed peoples and derailing social movements. Zinn's work is an important corrective to this destructive tradition in historical writing.

Awards, references in pop culture and other accomplishments

Zinn has received the Thomas Merton Award and the Eugene V. Debs Award. In 1998, he won the Lannan Literary Award[18] for nonfiction and the following year won the Upton Sinclair Award, which honors social activism. In 2003, Zinn was awarded the Prix des Amis du Monde Diplomatique[19] for the French version of his seminal work, Une histoire populaire des Etats-Unis.

Zinn's autobiography is You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train. A biographical documentary film of the same name was produced in 2004 and shown in select theaters. It is available[20]on DVD. The film, by Deb Ellis and Denis Mueller[21] with music composed by Richard Martinez[22] features music by Billy Bragg, Woodie Guthrie, and Pearl Jam. The film includes footage of Howard and Roslyn Zinn, Noam Chomsky, Marian Wright Edelman, Daniel Ellsberg, Tom Hayden and Alice Walker. The 78-minute film on DVD includes these special features: On Human Nature and Aggression; his speech at Veterans for Peace Conference, 2004; and audio of his 1971 speech at the Boston Common on Civil Disobedience. In the film, Noam Chomsky says Zinn "changed the consciousness of a generation."

The film was narrated by actor Matt Damon; when Damon was a child, his family moved next door to the Zinns in West Newton, Massachusetts, and became friends (the Zinns occasionally babysat the Damon boys). Damon included a reference to A People's History in his film Good Will Hunting. In a confrontation with his psychologist, played by Robin Williams, Damon's character tells him: "If you want to read a real history book, read Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States." That book will knock you on your ass." He also read the latter half of People's History for an audiobook released February 1, 2003 (ISBN 0-06-053006-5). People's History was also referenced in a Columbus Day episode of the TV show The Sopranos.

In October 2005, Chicago's indie punk label Thick Records released a CD by Springfield-based indie rock band, Resident Genius, which featured excerpts from several Zinn talks, tying them into the band's songs. The CD is titled You Can't Blow Up A Social Relationship." The six Zinn excerpts are "a greatest hits of his speeches recorded over the last 15 years by Roger Leisner of Radio Free Maine. They touch on his 'usual' topics of engaged activism, history from below, war, the media and much more."[23]

Zinn's "You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train" was also mentioned in System of a Down's song, "Deer Dance". The line "You can't be neutral on a moving train" is also the basis for the Pearl Jam B-Side "Down".

On October 5, 2006, Howard Zinn received the Haven's Center Award for Lifetime Contribution to Critical Scholarship in Madison, Wisconsin.[24]

The NoFX song Franco Un-American from the album The War on Errorism mentions Zinn.

Theatrical works

Zinn has written three plays, including Daughter of Venus (1985), Emma and Marx in Soho.

Emma is based on the life of the early 20th century anarchist Emma Goldman. Goldman, an anarchist, feminist, and free-spirited thinker was exiled from the United States because of her viewpoints, including her staunch opposition to World War I. As Zinn writes in his Introduction, Emma Goldman 'seemed to be tireless as she traveled the country, lecturing to large audiences everywhere, on birth control (‘A woman should decide for herself’), on the falsity of marriage as an institution (‘Marriage has nothing to do with love’), on patriotism (‘the last refuge of a scoundrel’) on free love (‘What is love if not free?’), and also on drama, including Shaw, Ibsen, and Strindberg'.

Zinn's most recent play is Marx in Soho, a historical drama that has been continuously performed [25] to encouraging reviews in small theaters throughout the United States, with Brian Jones in the title role starting in 1999 through 2005. In February 2005, Bob Weick took on the title role in a traveling tour. Details of the traveling tour are at the Iron Age Theatre.

Books written or edited by Howard Zinn

Books

• Artists in Times of War (2003) ISBN 1-58322-602-8
• The Cold War & the University: Toward an Intellectual History of the Postwar Years (Noam Chomsky (Editor) Authors: Ira Katznelson[26], R. C. Lewontin, David Montgomery, Laura Nader, Richard Ohmann[27], Ray Siever, Immanuel Wallerstein, Howard Zinn (1997) ISBN 1-56584-005-4
• Declarations of Independence: Cross-Examining American Ideology (1991) ISBN 0-06-092108-0 [28]
• Disobedience and Democracy: Nine Fallacies on Law and Order (1968, re-issued 2002) ISBN 0-89608-675-5
• Emma: A Play in Two Acts About Emma Goldman, American Anarchist (2002) ISBN 0-89608-664-X
• Failure to Quit: Reflections of an Optimistic Historian (1993) ISBN 0-89608-676-3
• The Future of History: Interviews With David Barsamian (1999) ISBN 1-56751-157-0
• Hiroshima: Breaking the Silence (pamphlet, 1995) ISBN 1-884519-14-8
• Howard Zinn On Democratic Education Donaldo Macedo, Editor (2004) ISBN 1-59451-054-7
• Howard Zinn on History (2000) ISBN 1-58322-048-8
• Howard Zinn on War (2000) ISBN 1-58322-049-6
• Justice in Everyday Life: The Way It Really Works (Editor) (1974) ISBN 0-89608-677-1
• Justice? Eyewitness Accounts (1977) ISBN 0-8070-4479-2
• La Otra Historia De Los Estados Unidos (2000) ISBN 1-58322-054-2
• LaGuardia in Congress (1959) ISBN 0-8371-6434-6, ISBN 0-393-00488-0
• Marx in Soho: A Play on History (1999) ISBN 0-89608-593-7
• New Deal Thought (editor) (1965) ISBN 0-87220-685-8
• Passionate Declarations: Essays on War and Justice (2003) ISBN 0-06-055767-2
• The Pentagon Papers Senator Gravel Edition. Vol. Five. Critical Essays. Boston. Beacon Press, 1972. 341p. plus 72p. of Index to Vol. I-IV of the Papers, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, editors
• A People's History of the Civil War: Struggles for the Meaning of Freedom by David Williams, Howard Zinn (Series Editor) (2005) ISBN 1-59558-018-2
• A People's History of the United States: 1492 – Present (1980), revised (1995)(1998)(1999)(2003) ISBN 0-06-052837-0
• A People's History of the United States: Teaching Edition Abridged (2003 updated) ISBN 1-56584-826-8
• A People's History of the United States: The Civil War to the Present Kathy Emery Ellen Reeves Howard Zinn (2003 teaching edition) ISBN 1-56584-725-3
• A People's History of the United States: The Wall Charts by Howard Zinn and George Kirschner (1995) ISBN 1-56584-171-9
• The People Speak: American Voices, Some Famous, Some Little Known (2004) ISBN 0-06-057826-2
• Playbook by Maxine Klein, Lydia Sargent and Howard Zinn (1986) ISBN 0-89608-309-8
• The Politics of History (1970) (2nd edition 1990) ISBN 0-252-06122-5
• Postwar America: 1945 – 1971 (1973) ISBN 0-89608-678-X
• A Power Governments Cannot Suppress (2006) ISBN 978-0872864757
• The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace Editor (2002) ISBN 0-8070-1407-9
• SNCC: The New Abolitionists (1964) ISBN 0-89608-679-8
• The Southern Mystique (1962) ISBN 0-89608-680-1
• Terrorism and War (2002) ISBN 1-58322-493-9 (interviews, Anthony Arnove (Ed.))
• The Twentieth Century: A People's History (2003) ISBN 0-06-053034-0
• Three Strikes: Miners, Musicians, Salesgirls, and the Fighting Spirit of Labor's Last Century (Dana Frank, Robin Kelley, and Howard Zinn) (2002) ISBN 0-8070-5013-X
• Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal (1967) ISBN 0-89608-681-X
• Voices of a People’s History of the United States (with Anthony Arnove, 2004) ISBN 1-58322-647-8
• You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times (1994) ISBN 0-8070-7127-7
• A Young People's History of the United States, adapted from the original text by Rebecca Stefoff; illustrated and updated through 2006, with new introduction and afterward by Howard Zinn; two volumes, Seven Stories Press, New York, 2007.
  • Vol. 1: Columbus to the Spanish-American War. ISBN 978-1-58322-759-6
  • Vol. 2: Class Struggle to the War on Terror. ISBN 978-1-58322-760-2
• The Zinn Reader: Writings on Disobedience and Democracy (1997) ISBN 1-888363-54-1

Forewords and introductions by Howard Zinn

• A Gigantic Mistake by Mickey Z, (2004) ISBN 1-930997-97-3
• A People's History of the Supreme Court by Peter H. Irons (2000) ISBN 0-14-029201-2
• A Political Dynasty In North Idaho, 1933-1967 by Randall Doyle (2004) ISBN 0-7618-2843-5
• American Political Prisoners: Prosecutions Under the Espionage and Sedition Acts by Stephen M. Kohn (1994) ISBN 0-275-94415-8
• American Power and the New Mandarins by Noam Chomsky (2002) ISBN 1-56584-775-X
• Broken Promises Of America: At Home And Abroad, Past And Present: An Encyclopedia For Our Times by (Douglas F. Dowd (2004) ISBN 1-56751-313-1
• Deserter From Death: Dispatches From Western Europe 1950-2000 by Daniel Singer (2005) ISBN 1-56025-642-7
• Ecocide of Native America: Environmental Destruction of Indian Lands and Peoples by Donald Grinde, Bruce Johansen (1994) ISBN 0-940666-52-9
• Eugene V. Debs Reader: Socialism and the Class Struggle by William A. Pelz (2000) ISBN 0-9704669-0-0
• From a Native Son: Selected Essays in Indigenism, 1985 – 1995 by Ward Churchill (1996) ISBN 0-89608-553-8
• Green Parrots: A War Surgeon's Diary by Gino Strada, (2005) ISBN 88-8158-420-4
• Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear And The Selling Of American Empire by Sut Jhally editor, Jeremy Earp editor, (2004) ISBN 1-56656-581-2
• If You're Not a Terrorist…Then Stop Asking Questions! by Micah Ian Wright, (2004) ISBN 1-58322-626-5
• Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal by Anthony Arnove, (2006) ISBN 978-1-59558-079-5
• Impeach the President: The Case Against Bush and Cheney Dennis Loo (Editor), Peter Phillips (Editor) Seven Stories Press: 2006)ISBN 1583227431
• Life of an Anarchist: The Alexander Berkman Reader by Alexander Berkman Gene Fellner, editor, (2004) ISBN 1-58322-662-1
• Long Shadows: Veterans' Paths to Peace by David Giffey editor, (2006) ISBN 1-89185-964-9
• Masters of War: Latin America and United States Aggression from the Cuban Revolution Through the Clinton Years by Clara Nieto, Chris Brandt (trans) (2003) ISBN 1-58322-545-5
• Peace Signs: The Anti-War Movement Illustrated by James Mann, editor (2004) ISBN 3-283-00487-0
• Silencing Political Dissent: How Post-9-11 Anti-terrorism Measures Threaten Our Civil Liberties by Nancy Chang, Center for Constitutional Rights (2002) ISBN 1-58322-494-7
• Soldiers In Revolt: GI Resistance During The Vietnam War by David Cortright, (2005) ISBN 1-931859-27-2
• Sold to the Highest Bidder: The Presidency from Dwight D. Eisenhower to George W. Bush by Daniel M. Friedenberg (2002) ISBN 1-57392-923-9
• The Autobiography of Abbie Hoffman Intro by Norman Mailer, Afterword by HZ (2000) ISBN 1-56858-197-1
• The Case for Socialism by Alan Maass, (2004) ISBN 1-931859-09-4
• The Forging of the American Empire: From the Revolution to Vietnam, a History of U.S. Imperialism by Sidney Lens (2003) ISBN 0-7453-2101-1
• The Higher Law: Thoreau on Civil Disobedience and Reform by Henry David Thoreau Wendell Glick, editor, (2004) ISBN 0-691-11876-0
• The Iron Heel by Jack London, (1971) ISBN 0-143-03971-7
• The Sixties Experience: Hard Lessons about Modern America by Edward P. Morgan, (1992) ISBN 1-56639-014-1
• You Back the Attack, We'll Bomb Who We Want by Micah Ian Wright, (2003) ISBN 1-58322-584-6

Op-Ed Pieces

• "On Terror", New York Times, Sunday Review of Books Zinn refutes Samantha Power's moral distinction between civilian deaths by aerial bombings and those caused by suicide bombings as "illogical".

Compact discs

• A People's History of the United States (1999)
• Artists in the Time of War (2002)
• Heroes & Martyrs: Emma Goldman, Sacco & Vanzetti, and the Revolutionary Struggle (2000)
• Stories Hollywood Never Tells (2000)
• You Can't Blow Up A Social Relationship - split CD featuring Zinn talks and noted indie rock band Resident genius (Thick Records) (2005)

Zinn is currently on the Alternative Tentacles record label run by ex-Dead Kennedys vocalist Jello Biafra. Alternative Tentacles sells all forms of Zinn media, including books, films, and compact discs, and stocks hard-to-find Zinn material.

Biographies and profiles

• Howard Zinn: A Radical American Vision, by Davis D. Joyce, foreword by Noam Chomsky, Prometheus Books, 2003. ISBN 1-59102-131-6
• Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral On A Moving Train Biographic film by Deb Ellis and Denis Mueller (2004)

External links

• Howard Zinn's homepage
• Howard Zinn and the Omissions of U.S. History, The Tavis Smiley Show, November 27, 2003, National Public Radio
• G7 Welcoming Committee - A record label that has put out several Howard Zinn spoken word albums.
• Howard Zinn's articles for ZNet and Z Mag
• Howard Zinn's articles for The Progressive
• A People's History of the United States (The entire book)
• War is the Health of the State Interview with Zinn
• [29]War is not a solution for terrorism
• joint Howard Zinn - Noam Chomsky interview, April 16 2007 part one part two
• What the left thinks: Howard Zinn, Part I Truncated interview with Dennis Prager
• What the left thinks: Howard Zinn, Part II Truncated with Dennis Prager
• You can't be neutral on a moving train (Progressive Podcast audiofile)
• Documentary film Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train
• "The Power and the Glory: Myths of American Exceptionalism" Boston Reivew

Online interviews and video

• Zinn and the Art of Democracy (April 26, 2007) Interview by Freda Moon for The New Haven Advocate
• Democracy Now! with Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky
• On Civil Disobedience: State of Nature Interview with Howard Zinn (January, 2007)
• "Bringing Democracy Alive" — the inaugural lecture in the Howard Zinn Lecture Series at Boston University, (November 2, 2006)
• [http://www.archive.org/download/dn2006-1124_vid/dn2006-1124_256kb.mp4 Speech at University of Wisconsin-Madison, December 2006
• Interview with Zinn for Guernica Magazine (guernicamag.com)
• What the left thinks: Howard Zinn, Part I, interview with Dennis Prager (September 12, 2006)
• Transcript ofPBS interview by Bill Moyers (January 10, 2003)
• C-SPAN Book TV In Depth (3-hour interview)
• Interview with Howard Zinn on Air America Radio's The Majority Report (April 16th, 2004)
• "The Myth of American Exceptionalism" (April 13, 2005) Videolecture published by MIT World and sponsored by MIT SPURS/Humphrey Program.
• Public Reading of A People's History of the United Stateswith Howard Zinn, Jeff Zinn,[30] James Earl Jones, Harris Yulin, Andre Gregory, Marisa Tomei, Danny Glover, Myla Pitt, Kurt Vonnegut, Alfre Woodard, Alice Walker
• Interviewed by David Barsamian (November 11, 1992)
• Gray Matters Interviews Howard Zinn (December 3, 1998)
• Interview by Harry Kreisler (April 20, 2001)
• Interview by Robert Birnbaum at identitytheory.com (April 3, 2003)
• January 23, 2005. Media Matters WILL-AM
• April 23, 2006. Media Matters WILL-AM
• A-Infos Radio Project: Talks by Howard Zinn
• 1996 Interview on the death penalty
• Human Nature and War
• Rawstory.com interview (September 9, 2005) — Compares U.S. wars in Iraq and Vietnam.
• Amy Goodman: Conversations with Howard Zinn on Democracy Now! (1997 – 2005), based on a compilation at HowardZinn.org
• December 17, 2006. Media Matters WILL-AM
  • "A special hour-long conversation: To Be Neutral, To Be Passive In A Situation Is To Collaborate With Whatever Is Going On" (April 27, 2005)Interview with Amy Goodman
  • "Bush Represents Everything That Martin Luther King Opposed" (January 20, 2005)[31]
  • "If young people going to school knew the history of American expansion, first on the continent and then in the world, and if they knew the history of lies and the history of massacres that took place alongside this expansion, nobody would go to a recruiting station to sign up for any war - nobody." - (January 6, 2005) The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
  • "Reaction to John Kerry's Concession and the Reelection of George W Bush" (November 3, 2004)[32]
  • "Nader vs. Anybody But Bush: A Debate on Ralph Nader's Candidacy" (October 26, 2004)[33]
  • "Candidates Not Addressing Fundamental Issues of American Policy" in the World"(October 14, 2004)[34]
  • "Revolutionary Non-Violence: Remembering Dave Dellinger, 1915-2004" (May 27, 2004)[35]
  • "Labor Day Special: Howard Zinn on Occupied Iraq, the Role of Resistance Movements, Government Lies and the Media" (September 1, 2003)[36]
  • "Independence Day Special: A Dramatic Reading of 'A People's History of the United States' with James Earl Jones, Alfre Woodard, Kurt Vonnegut, Danny Glover, Harris Yulin and others"(July 4, 2003) [37]
  • "Howard Zinn and Arundhati Roy: A Conversation Between Two Leading Social Critics" (May 28, 2003)[38]
  • "Howard Zinn Talks About Bombs, Terrorism, the Anti-War Movement and the Bush Administration's Impending War On Iraq" (February 25, 2003) [39]
  • "People's History of the United States, 1,000,000 Copies and Counting: Alice Walker, Danny Glover, Kurt Vonnegut, Marisa Tomei and Others Celebrate Howard Zinn's Classic" (February 25, 2003)[40]
  • "Renowned Historian Howard Zinn On the History of Government and Media Lies in Time of War" (February 13, 2003)[41]
  • "President Bush Takes the Nation to the Brink of War and Defends American Empire in His State of the Union Address; Simultaneously, He Tries to Prove He Cares About the Economy" (January 29, 2003)[42]
  • "Over 600 Gather for the Funeral of Legendary Anti-War Activist Philip Berrigan in Baltimore: We Hear From Historian Howard Zinn and Brendan Walsh, Who Co-Founded Viva House, a Catholic Worker House in Baltimore"(December 10, 2003)[43]
  • "Howard Zinn On the History of the US Government and CIA 'Changing Regimes' Around the World" (November 28, 2003)[44]
  • "Saying No to War: From Boston to Washington, D.C. to Madison, Wisconsin, We Hear From Howard Zinn, Medea Benjamin and Others" (October 29, 2003)[45]
  • "Congress Holds Joint Session in New York for First Time in 200 Years" (September 6, 2003)[46]
  • "The People's Historian" (June 21, 2002)[47]
  • "Reflections On 9/11 and Beyond" (March 11, 2002)[48]
  • "Where Are We Heading: Terrorism, Global Security, and the Peace Movement": During a Time Ofseemingly Endless War, We'll Hear From Radical Historian Howard Zinn" (February 22, 2002)[49]
  • "As Bush Delivers His First State of the Union Address, Democracy Now! Convenes a Shadowcongress to Respond" (January 30, 2002)[50]
  • "As Pacifica Stations WBAI, KPFK and WPFW Continue to Censor Democracy Now!, a Medley of The Voices That Pacifica Has Refused to Air Since September 11" (January 8, 2002)[51]
  • "Howard Zinn Speaks On the US War Against Afghanistan, US Wars Gone By, and the Prospects for a Humane US Foreign Policy" (Part II) (October 22, 2001)[52]
  • "Howard Zinn Speaks On the US War Against Afghanistan, US Wars Gone By, and the Prospects for a Humane US Foreign Policy" (Part I) (October 22, 2001)[53]
  • "Manning Marable, Howard Zinn and Grace Paley Speak Out Against the Bush Administration'smarch to War" (September 13, 2001)[54]
  • "Pearl Harbor: The Corporatization of History" (Part II) (Wednesday, May 30, 2001)[55]
  • "The Electoral College and Election 2000: A Historical Perspective From Howard Zinn" ( December 8, 2000) [56]
  • "American History Review of the 20th Century: Manning Marable and Howard Zinn" (December 27, 1999)[57]
  • "A People's History of the United States" (May 18, 1999)[58]
  • "Historian Howard Zinn Discusses Mergers" of two oil giants Exxon and Mobil (December 7, 1998)[59]
  • "Historian Zinn Addresses Nation's Censored Reports" (May 13, 1998)[60][61]
  • "Columbus Day Broadcast: A Talk by Howard Zinn" (October 13, 1997) [62]

Criticism of Howard Zinn

• "Howard Zinn's History Lessons" by Michael Kazin
• Master of Deceit by Daniel J. Flynn. Retrieved 2006-09-13.

Ways of telling history compared

• Carlyle, Thomas. On Heroes, Hero Worship and the Heroic in History. (University of California Press: 1993) ISBN 0-520-07515-3