The History of he United States from the Viewpoint of the People: 1492-Present

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

History is something we constantly refer to progress ourselves as humans, we learn from our mistakes and continue to strive from our successes. But who is to say what is a horrible mistake or a courageous act of valor? That which was documented about what happened so long ago, was done by a person who spread the story or wrote it down from their perspective. Howard Zinn’s argument that there is no such thing as impartial history clearly illustrates that when history is recorded there is always two sides to the story, that things are either left out or kept in to sway the reader to one side or the other. “Everyone is biased, whether they

Howard Zinn has committed his life’s work to open the eyes of American citizens, and show them the real history of our country. From America’s early beginnings and his readings of Henry David Thoreau to Martin Luther King’s plight for equality. Zinn has an eloquent way with words to put ideals into prospective, and shed light on some of our country’s issues that continually throughout history plaque our government. One of these continues historical issues is war. “Citizens have not learned from the cycle of stupidity when it comes to war” Zinn began working in a shipyard at a fairly young age after reading about Nazi camps and what Adolph Hitler hoped to accomplish, Zinn wanted to do his part to protect our nation. What he wasn’t prepared

2. By assigning both, The People’s History of the United States, and A Patriot’s History of the United States, it allows us to take a look at two different views of American history. Howard Zinn, the author of The People’s History of the United States, seems to tell the story from the view of those not in power, like those in slavery, women, and Native Americans. Conversely, the authors of A Patriot’s History of the United States, Larry Schweikart and

1.) Howard Zinn’s main purpose for writing A People’s History of the United States is to give history in an un-biased manner. For example, he says that he will not glorify any movement and denounce any ‘bad guy’ in history; he will give information as it should be given. Fairly.

As Zinn presents his weakly-formed argument in chapter one of “A People’s History of the United States,” he uses unconventional amounts of emotion and factual details in an attempt to relay his message that textbooks and historians deliberately exclude alternative perspectives in order to

A Peoples History of the United States was written by Howard Zinn. Zinn’s main purpose for writing this book was to give a precise and detailed exposition of American History from the victim’s point of view. “I prefer to try to tell the story of the discovery of America from the viewpoint of the Arawaks, of the Constitution from the standpoint of the slaves…” He wants to uncover hidden episodes of the past, be skeptical about the government and even talk about the cruelties the victims put on each other because of their oppressors. He wants to understand why the oppressors killed the victims and how these victims felt and what actions they took. Zinn wants to tell history’s greatest achievement from the point of view of the people who get slaughtered, robbed, taunted and anything else that happened to the victims while

Zinn does not want to grieve for the victims and condemn the executioners. He will not overlook the cruelties that people inflicted upon one another throughout history. He will not romanticize the harsh truths of the world. Zinn says that his book will be quite skeptical of government, politics, and culture. He tells the reader that before they continue to read they should know that his book will be a blunt recollection of history and nothing more.

Zinn’s critique on the inequality of wealth and the American war effort during the American revolution is correct, while his idea of injustice in the American Constitution during this time is not completely accurate. Zinn states that the wealthy primarily benefitted from the revolution and that the American war effort took its biggest toll on the lower class which is true. However, his claims that the Constitution also benefited the wealthy class more than the lower class are not supported by sufficient evidence.

In the chapters 11 and 12 of A People's History Of The United States, Zinn’s underlying point is the corruption within our own government and the problem of American Imperialism, especially during times of war. In order to support these points, Zinn highlights various points in history and stories that relevant to the topic.

However, these works are discrete pieces. Howard Zinn and Victor David Hanson pieces give evidence of a liberal historian and a conservative historian. Qualities of a liberal that believes in democracy and humanitarianism. Liberals oppose war and tax cuts. Qualities of a conservative is believing war can help their nation and nationalism. Conservatives oppose democracy and ethics. In Howard Zinn’s disquisition, he is recognized as a liberal. Howard Zinn is recognized as a liberal because he focused on democratic views and slanders the wrongdoing of President George W. Bush. In his work he talks about the chicanery in the 2000 election and how George W. Bush handled the War on Terror on an inadequate level. Zinn explains how in many of Bush’s request were granted even though it violated Amendments and the U.S Constitution. Zinn states how much of good America can do if they “we sent people to the Middle East to rebuild infrastructure, supply clean water, and feed starving children, rather than kill Arabs to get oil, other countries would not hate us.” (Zinn) Hanson’s piece differs from Zinn’s as Hanson defends how Bush was and immaturely negatively viewed in the media with hardly no evidence of how George W. Bush was positive character to American citizens. In Hanson’s piece, he deliberately criticized Obama and how Obama has handled problems given from his predecessor. Each approach

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power (Lincoln). When young, it is taught that the Founding Fathers worked tirelessly to free our country from the British. Later it is learned that history is not so straight forward and that human flaw plays a central role when it comes to the themes of history. Not everything that occurs in history is an accident nor is it as honest as it would be liked. So when Howard Zinn asserts that, “Around 1776, certain important people in the English colonies made a discovery that would prove enormously useful for the next two hundred years. They found that by creating a nation, a symbol, a legal unity called the United States, they could take over land,

Zinn states that the country’s motive for slavery was purely economically, due to slavery being a multibillion dollar industry, racism only appeared later when the white men understood that racism could be used to keep the slaves below them in society. Zinn discusses just how large slavery was and how it was nearly impossible for slaves to make any changes. Many slaves tried rebelling but this only lead to harsher treatment by slave owners who lived in fear of slave rebellions. Lead by people like John Brown, they were seen as heroes who helped fight for freedom but usually just ended in them being hung or killed in some way. As the article goes on Zinn discusses how Africans had a gain in rights after Lincoln was named president. Then, as time went on those rights quickly regressed due to change in presidents, political system and an increase in capitalism. As the Johnson administration came to form, many of Lincoln's policies protecting Africans slowly crumpled. Overall, Zinn makes an effort to

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,