Books by Howard Zinn

“What Zinn was trying to do was really enact the idea of history from below. This was an important movement in historiography that emerged after the Second World War, the idea of telling the stories that hadn’t been told, of trade unions and social movements and marginalized groups in society. He wanted to put that at the center of the way we told our stories about history. In The People’s History of the United States, he writes: ‘Most histories understate revolt, overemphasize statesmanship, and thus encourage impotency among citizens.’ He was very much a historian-activist. He wanted this kind of history to empower people.” Read more...

The best books on The Lessons of History

Roman Krznaric, Philosopher

“Zinn’s book has sold over two million copies. It’s probably the most popular work of nonfiction that any radical has written in American history. It’s a history of what he calls the ‘1%” and the “99%’. It’s an interpretation of all of American history, from the Native Americans before European settlement all the way up to 9/11 in the last edition. In his telling, workers, blacks, women, Native Americans, Chicanos and other groups struggled for higher wages, truer democracy and sometimes a different kind of society entirely, but they keep getting defeated.” Read more...

The best books on The Roots of Radicalism

Michael Kazin, Historian