Analysis Of Zinn 's ' The Battle Of The Underdog ' Essay

The nature of the American War for the Independence has different historians views, some of them say that the revolution brought many changes to society , and others historians take a opposite view, they say that this revolution does not brought major changes in American. For Howard Zinn the war for independence was not a social Revolution ,He Argue that the American revolution had little positive impact on the everyday lives of most Americans, Zinn stated that most of the leader of the revolution were member of the colonial elite who wished to preserve their wealth and power. On the other hand, For Gordon S. Wood Zinn the war for independence was a social Revolution. He argues that American Revolution was a transforming event that greatly

In the first source, the author, Howard Zinn discusses how Europeans were aware of their mistreatment towards the Native Americans and how Native Americans were innocent. As well as how Christopher Columbus is portrayed, how he is not a hero, and how he shouldn't be celebrated. Zinn uses direct sources and evidence to support his argument by using journals and logs. Zinn says that the mistreatment of Native Americans is first seen to begin with Columbus. Zinn shows evidence to support this statement by using a direct source from Columbus. "They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features... They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword,

1. Zinn’s main purpose for writing A People’s History of the United States is to show history from the viewpoint of others.

of America. In writing this book, the major aim, for Zinn, was to set a quiet revolution. This

     Conversely, James W. Loewen, who did extensive research of high school history lessons to write his book Lies my Teacher Told Me, feels Columbus wasn’t really as great as he is made out to be. Loewen writes, “The history books make up all kinds of details to tell a better story and to humanize Columbus so that readers will identify with him” (38). Just as Hart pushes the idea that Columbus made a great new discovery finding the Americas, Loewen argues that “Columbus’s voyage was not the first, but the last discovery” (39). His importance has to do with the changes that were made in Europe and not having “discovered new land”. People from other continents had gone to America long before 1492. “Daring sailors reached America in a series of voyages across the North Atlantic, establishing communities on the Faeroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland. The Norse colony on Greenland lasted five hundred years (982-c.1500)”. Loewen further goes on to argue against Hart on the issue of the Turks and their supposed land route control and describes the claims as a “falsehood”. Loewen also points out the several times Christianity is used as an excuse

Columbus never even walked on what we now call the United States of America. Where ever he did land, he was motivated only by his own greed. Columbus came for the gold, spices, and slaves. In his diary, he mentioned gold 75 times just in the first two weeks, alone (Katz 13). Indians who weren’t able to find gold, were punished by having their hands cut off. Most slaves died en route to Spain. Many Indian females were taken as sex slaves, some as young as nine and ten years old. Columbus forced cooperation from the Indians by disfiguring them and using them as examples. Even worse, he used hunting dogs to tear the Indians apart. Many natives committed suicide, and murdered their own children to save them from such a horrible life. Those who survived the voyage were worked to death. Still, another huge portion of these Indians died from disease brought over by Columbus and his

Despite bearing some similarities, the differences between how the textbook and Howard Zinn describe Christopher Columbus are pronounced. The textbook writes their text from the Christopher Columbus viewpoint unlike Howard Zinn text where he writes from the viewpoint of the victims. The textbook was also less detailed about the actions of Columbus (but still wrote about his deceitful actions) than Howard Zinn’s A Peoples History of the United States. For example, the textbook talks about how Columbus first came to the Bahamas, he forced the Arawaks to search for gold, “If they had gold the Spaniards seized it; if they did not, the Europeans forced them to search for it.” The text doesn’t describe Columbus actions like Howard Zinn did, “This

Columbus has always been portrayed as an enlightened, peaceful explorer who “discovered” a new world, and became friends with the native people. Howard Zinn’s view on Columbus’s encounter with the natives is an entirely different perspective. Zinn describes Columbus as a man who is willing to torture and kill others to be able to accomplish what he wants; in this case he wanted to obtain gold and other resources to take back with him to Spain.

Later on in A People’s History of the United States, Zinn questions whether “all this bloodshed and deceit – from Columbus to Cortez, Pizarro, the Puritans – [was] a necessity for the human race to progress from savagery to civilization.” Zinn

Throughout recorded human history, authors, leaders, and researchers, have documented the past from many different perspectives, and viewpoints. Not every historian has the same stance on a certain issue, therefore, differences in point of view occur in almost every writing. In the textbook The American Pageant, A People’s History of the United States by Larry Schweikart, and Michael Allen, and Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, the reader can see many different perspectives throughout each reading. The infamous explorer known as Christopher Columbus, has been documented in many different ways. Depending on the reading, Columbus has be called everything from a “[...]symbol of the new age of hope”, to an inhuman tyrant who captured Indians and turned them into slaves.

1. Zinn's purpose for writing A People's History of the United States is to write about American history from the viewpoint of the people, and not from the rich or the men that made the decisions, but from the people who lived through those decisions and whose lives were affected. His purpose is not to make the people who were in charge look bad, but to see what they did from all perspectives.

Zinn’s thesis focused primarily on the devious Christopher Columbus. He wrote that Christopher Columbus wasn’t a real hero. He was power hungry and obsessed with finding gold. He was dishonest and deceitful to his crew. “The first man to sight land was supposed to get a yearly pension of 10,000 maravedis for life, but Rodrigo never got it. Columbus claimed he had seen a light the evening before. He got the reward.” He was also a cruel man, abusing the inhabitants of the land which he explored. The Arawaks were friendly and welcoming to these European men with overwhelming hospitality and their belief in sharing, but Columbus abused their kindness. He took them by force and used them as slaves, took all their gold and then killed them.” As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts.” Columbus wrote this about his experience when he first arrived to the Bahama Islands. This shows that he did not care for the people; instead of returning back the hospitality he used unnecessary

a.) According to Zinn, the main purpose behind the writing of A People’s History of the United States was to tell the history of the United States through the losers POV.

Dr. Zinn references numerous accounts of innocent bloodshed, cruelty and the enslavement of Indians by Columbus and his soldiers from De Las Casa’s books prior to Columbus’ return to Spain. Dr. Zinn records the following statements from De Las Casa book in which he says; "Endless testimonies ... prove the mild and pacific temperament of the natives. But our work was to exasperate, ravage, kill, mangle and destroy; small wonder, then, if they tried to kill one of us now and then.... The admiral, it is true, was blind as those who came after him, and he was so anxious to please the King that he committed irreparable crimes against the Indians...." To please

Writing a book with an uncommonly taught perspective, Zinn tried to verify his take on U.S history. There are inserts from various documents, such as diaries, ledgers, and newspapers used as supporting documents to his claim,