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

• Laguardia in Congress (1959) ISBN 0837164346, ISBN 0-393-00488-0
• The Southern Mystique (1962) ISBN 0896086801
• SNCC: The New Abolitionists (1964) ISBN 0896086798
• New Deal Thought (editor) (1965) ISBN 0872206858
• Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal (1967) ISBN 089608681X
• Disobedience and Democracy: nine fallacies on law and order (1968) ISBN 0896086755
• The Politics of History (1970, 1990) ISBN 0252061225
• The Pentagon Papers: Critical Essays (editor, with Noam Chomsky) (1972)
• Justice in Everyday Life: the way it really works (editor) (1974) ISBN 0896086771
• Justice?: eyewitness accounts (1977) ISBN 0807044792
• A People's History of the United States: 1492–Present (1980, revised 1995) ISBN 0060528370
• Declarations of Independence: Cross-Examining American Ideology (1991) ISBN 0060921080
• Failure to Quit: Reflections of an Optimistic Historian (1993) ISBN 0896086763
• You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times (1994) ISBN 0807071277
• The Zinn Reader: writings on disobedience and democracy (1997) ISBN 1888363541
• The Future of History (1999)
• Marx in Soho: A Play on History (1999) ISBN 0896085937
• Howard Zinn on History (2000) ISBN 1583220488
• Howard Zinn on War (2000) ISBN 1583220496
• Terrorism and War (2002) ISBN 1583224939
• Emma: a play in two acts about Emma Goldman, American anarchist (2002) ISBN 089608664X
• The Power of Nonviolence: writings by advocates of peace (2002) ISBN 0807014079
• Three Strikes: miners, musicians, salesgirls, and the fighting spirit of labor's last century (2002) ISBN 080705013X
• Artists in Times of War (2003) ISBN 1583226028
• The Twentieth Century: a people's history (2003) ISBN 0060530340
• Passionate Declarations: essays on war and justice (2003) ISBN 0060557672
• The People Speak: American Voices, Some Famous, Some Little Known (2004) ISBN 0060578262
• Voices of a People’s History of the United States (with Anthony Arnove, 2004) ISBN 1583226478
• Howard Zinn on Democratic Education (with Donald Macedo, 2004) ISBN 1594510555

Forewords and introductions

• Postwar America: 1945–1971 (by Jack P. Greene, 1973) ISBN 089608678X
• The Sixties Experience: hard lessons about modern America (by Edward P. Morgan, 1992) ISBN 1566390141
• From a Native Son: selected essays in indigenism, 1985–1995 (by Ward Churchill, 1996) ISBN 0896085538
• A People's History of the Supreme Court (by Peter H. Irons, 2000) ISBN 0140292012
• Silencing Political Dissent: how post-9-11 anti-terrorism measures threaten our civil liberties (by Nancy Chang, Center for Constitutional Rights, 2002) ISBN 1583224947
• You Back the Attack, We'll Bomb Who We Want (by Micah Ian Wright, 2003) ISBN 1583225846
• The Forging of the American Empire: from the Revolution to Vietnam, a history of US imperialism (by Sidney Lens, 2003) ISBN 0745321003
• If You're Not a Terrorist…Then Stop Asking Questions! (by Micah Ian Wright, 2004) ISBN 1583226265

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

• Howard Zinn's homepage (http://howardzinn.org)
• Critical Resources: Howard Zinn (http://www.synaptic.bc.ca/ejournal/HowardZinn.htm)
• C-SPAN Book TV In Depth (http://www.booktv.org/indepth/index.asp?schedid=145&segid=2735) (RealVideo) (3-hour interview)
• Interview with Howard Zinn (http://www.airamericaplace.com/upload/aamr041604.mp3) (MP3) on Air America Radio's The Majority Report (April 16th, 2004)
• A-Infos Radio Project: Talks by Howard Zinn (http://www.radio4all.net/index.php?op=search&nav=&session=&searchtext=zinn) (MP3)
• Public Reading of A People's history of the United States (http://www.democracynow.org/index.pl?issue=20040705) (RealVideo) with Howard Zinn, James Earl Jones, Harris Yulin, Andre Gregory, Marisa Tomei, Danny Glover, Myla Pitt, Kurt Vonnegut, Alfre Woodard, Alice Walker
• G7 Welcoming Committee (http://www.g7welcomingcommittee.com) - A record label that puts out some Howard Zinn spoken word albums.
• Howard Zinn's articles for ZNet and Z Mag (http://www.zmag.org/bios/homepage.cfm?authorID=97)
• Howard Zinn's articles for The Progressive (http://www.progressive.org/search/search.php3?ps=10&q=howard%2Bzinn&ps=20&o=0&ul=)

Links to criticism of Howard Zinn

• "Master of Deceit" -- a conservative review of A People's history of the United States (http://www.frontpagemag.com/articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=8145)

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