History
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 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 count
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. There isn't a country in this world that doesn't have skeletons in their closet. To use the two most obvious examples; he condemns Columbus for genocide and America for slavery. That's what makes this the greatest country in the world today. 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. government had driven the arms race throughout the 1970s and 1980s. "-Chapter 18, A People's history of the United StatesAnyone who knows anything about the Vietnam War, knows that we did not make a "maximum military effort" in fighting this war. We did not buildup military forces in Vietnam or the bordering Southeast Asian countries. 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 . He conveniently fails to mention the substantial literature of the last fifteen years, nearly all of which tends to confirm that they were guilty as charged. In my opinion his history of the Cold War is wrong as well. Zinn's interpretation of the motivations of the founders with respect to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are inaccurate. For a country that had and still has so many problems (according to Zinn), I think we turned out to be just fine. It is a crime because it distorts the truth rather than advances it and justice cannot be had by any means other than the truth.
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Acceptance Essays
