Howard_Zinn Howard_Zinn

Howard Zinn - Definition and Overview
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Howard Zinn speaks at Marlboro College on February 16, 2004.
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Howard Zinn

Howard Zinn (born December 7, 1922 in Brooklyn, New York) is an influential American political scientist and Marxist historian. His book, A People's History of the United States has sold over a million copies and, together with Noam Chomsky, he is one of the most well known icons of the radical left in the U.S..

Contents
1 Biography
2 A People's History
3 Published works

3.1 Books
3.2 Forewords and introductions
3.3 Compact discs

4 External links

4.1 Links to criticism of Howard Zinn

Biography

Zinn was raised in a blue collar family in Brooklyn, and flew bombing missions for the United States in World War II, an experience he now points to in shaping his opposition to war. Upon returning to the United States, he attended New York University, graduating with a B.A. in 1951 and Columbia University, where he earned an M.A. (1952) and Ph.D. (1958) in political science. His doctoral dissertation, LaGuardia in Congress, was an admiring study of Fiorello LaGuardia's congressional career.

In 1956, he became chair of history and social science at Spelman College in Atlanta, a school for black women, where he soon became involved in the Civil rights movement, which he participated in as an adviser to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and chronicled, in his book SNCC: The New Abolitionists. Zinn collaborated with historian Staughton Lynd and mentored young student activists including Alice Walker and Marian Wright Edelman. When he was fired in 1963 for insubordination related to his protest work, he moved to Boston University, where he became a leading critic of the Vietnam War.

Zinn is currently retired from a professorship at Boston University. He has received the Thomas Merton Award, the Eugene V. Debs Award, the Upton Sinclair Award, and the Lannan Literary Award. He lives in the Auburndale neighborhood of Newton, Massachusetts in the United States.

Zinn's autobiography is You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train. A documentary about Zinn has also been produced with the same name.

A People's History

Zinn is perhaps best known for A People's History of the United States, a detailed work which presents American history through the eyes of those he feels are outside of the political and economic establishment: Native Americans, slaves, women, blacks, Populists, etc. Since its publication, the book has sold over a million copies.

Actor Matt Damon grew up next door to Zinn; he included a reference to A People's History in his film Good Will Hunting and read the latter half for an audiobook version. The book was also referenced in a Columbus Day episode of the TV show The Sopranos.

In the Spring of 2003, to commemorate the sale of the millionth copy of A People's History, a celebrity dramatic reading of some of the book's quotations was held. The reading featured Alice Walker, Marisa Tomei, Myla Pitt, Alfre Woodard, Kurt Vonnegut, Harris Yulin, Andre Gregory, Danny Glover, James Earl Jones, and of course Zinn himself (as the narrator). [1] (http://www.democracynow.org/index.pl?issue=20040705) The result was published as The People Speak: American Voices, Some Famous, Some Little Known.

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.

Published works

Books

Forewords and introductions

Compact discs

  • A People's History of the United States (1999)
  • Heroes & Martyrs (2000)
  • Stories Hollywood Never Tells (2000)
  • Artists in the Time of War (2002)

External links

Links to criticism of Howard Zinn

Example Usage of Howard
crackers_76: RT @mfarnsworth: We're also witnessing the consequences of the Liberal moderates letting Howard and his minions walk all over them for years
julie_posetti: Dear Coalition: would you prefer 1) for your alliance to be eventually re-electable or 2) To sate Howard's ghost & the Party Old Guard?
Deanoandrews: The darts have broken I CID . I've been asking for new ones but to no avail. Striking could be the answer.... Howard?? Lol
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