I recently finished reading A People’s History of the United States, by Howard Zinn. You may remember this as the book that Matt Damon tells Robin Williams will “blow his mind” in Good Will Hunting. It’s a pretty different take on the history of the United States, from a point of view that typically is not seen in more traditional histories, especially those taught in school. The book is clearly, but honestly biased: Zinn believes that “objectivity” is a myth, which is something that I wholeheartedly agree with.
History books generally gloss over subjects that are not part of the contemporary ruling elite, if they don’t make outright falsehoods. Zinn writes about those people who are usually romanticized, lied about, or forgotten altogether in the history books. He starts with the devastation of Native Americans wrought by explorers, which he describes with far more detail than most history books do, if they mention it at all. He then moves on to the plight of slaves and free blacks, along with poor, landless people of all colors, women, unions, left-wing organization, pacifists, and other groups that rarely get the spotlight. The book is full of events, people, and groups that I (and most other people) had not heard of before reading this book, and for that reason alone it is a great read.
Like any book, you can’t read it without understanding its context, and to use it as the sole source of information about the United States would be an error. It focuses heavily on class distinctions, and certainly paints the upper class in a negative light. Much of the book, in fact, focuses on the bad things that the government of the U.S., and the people that controlled it, did to already repressed and marginalized groups. However, given that most U.S. history, especially as taught in elementary and high schools, is portrayed almost uniformly positively, this book serves as a very good counterpoint. The real impact of U.S. history is certainly not as rosy as most history books make it out to be, and probably not quite as negative as Zinn portrays it. I would argue that this book should be part of any high school-level U.S. history course at the very least.
I’m now reading “The Power Broker”, Robert Caro’s book about Robert Moses, the one man who shaped New York City more than anybody else (and apparently almost all urban design, which I’ve learned in just a few pages). Should be very interesting.