When I was in third grade I went to the eye doctor and got my eyes checked. That is when I learned I needed glasses. When I put the glasses on, it was like I was seeing the world for the first time. Before that I had no idea how bad my vision really was. I didn't complain about my vision because I didn't know that there was a better way to see. I am reminded of that feeling after reading this book.
Howard Zinn gives us a view of history unfiltered by the patriotism and national pride that is used to indoctrinate us all as schoolchildren. As an African-American I've always been resistant to the mainstream view of history that is used to denigrate, degrade and debase me but without an alternative I was forced to accept it as basically the truth. As I grew older and my knowledge of the world increased, my skepticism not only about the way the world was presented but about the motives of those who would present it has grown tremendously. This book serves as the confirmation and validation of what I and many other people have always felt to be true.
This book touches on many topics in American History that have been taught deceptively, incompletely or not at all. The best example is the very first chapter of the book, which reexamines Christopher Columbus and his famous "discovery of America". What we are not taught in our traditional history class is that he inflicted the first recorded case of genocide in the new world and set the tone for the injustices that were yet to come.
Our history classes have downplayed the racial inequality, the violence, the social injustice that has historically been perpetrated by the government of The United States against its own people since the founding of the nation. This book illuminates the dark corners of our national history. Racism and violence aren't just admonished, the root causes are explored and we learn that the true history of the U.S. has been concealed in a muddled cloud of deception.
After reading this book we learn that nearly all of the military conflicts and foreign interventions in our nation's history have been motivated by the interests of the few and not the needs of the many. This should not be surprising as the very existence of our country is based upon the needs of wealthy white landowners.
This book also outlines the motivation of some of history's most infamous events including the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, the attack on Pearl Harbor, the bombing of Hiroshima, the Bay of Pigs fiasco, the Vietnam War, the creation of Panama, the Iran-Contra affair and many many others.
A People's History is the book that we should all read. If you only read one or two books a year, then please make this one of them. If you have been "educated" by our school system (public or private) with regards to American History; you have been inculcated with propaganda and disinformation. Yet that may have been necessary to fully appreciate the most valuable lesson in this book: "..there is no such thing as a pure fact, innocent of interpretation. Behind every fact presented to the world - by a teacher, a writer, anyone - is a judgment. The judgment that has been made is that this fact is important, and that other facts, omitted, are not important." By seeing what the Establishment has chosen to exclude we see how important we are in the eyes of the powers that be.
Today, we have in Texas a school board that is choosing to limit the teaching of Thomas Jefferson in their texts and in Virginia the Governor is downplaying the role of slavery while cherishing the memory of the Confederacy. You have a Tea Party movement supposedly dedicated to the cause of high taxes even though their taxes have gone down. Their protests mock the proud tradition of true insurrection provoked by injustice that is chronicled in this book.
Howard Zinn has shattered the myth that surrounds such historical figures as John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, both Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt and of course the first "black president" Bill Clinton. Through it all Democrats and Republicans are seen as furthering and extending the domination of corporate interests in the advancement of militarism and deemphasizing the need for social services at home. The only president that even seems concerned about the status quo is Republican Dwight Eisenhower who famously warned of the growing influence of the military-industrial complex.
Howard Zinn manages to deconstruct all the social barriers put in place to maintain the status quo through the 200 plus years of this nation's history. One wonders what he would make of the election of Barack Obama, the current economic crisis, the health care reform package and the current attempt at financial reform. He passed away earlier this year so he'll never get a chance to write those chapters. But perhaps if we have the ability the see the world for what it truly is we won't need another Howard Zinn. So I'm inviting everyone to read this book and see the world for the first time.
