Amazon.com
Consistently lauded for its lively, readable prose, this revised and updated edition of A People's History of the United States turns traditional textbook history on its head. Howard Zinn infuses the often-submerged voices of blacks, women, American Indians, war resisters, and poor laborers of all nationalities into this thorough narrative that spans American history from Christopher Columbus's arrival to an afterword on the Clinton presidency.
Addressing his trademark reversals of perspective, Zinn--a teacher, historian, and social activist for more than 20 years--explains, "My point is not that we must, in telling history, accuse, judge, condemn Columbus in absentia. It is too late for that; it would be a useless scholarly exercise in morality. But the easy acceptance of atrocities as a deplorable but necessary price to pay for progress (Hiroshima and Vietnam, to save Western civilization; Kronstadt and Hungary, to save socialism; nuclear proliferation, to save us all)--that is still with us. One reason these atrocities are still with us is that we have learned to bury them in a mass of other facts, as radioactive wastes are buried in containers in the earth."
If your last experience of American history was brought to you by junior high school textbooks--or even if you're a specialist--get ready for the other side of stories you may not even have heard. With its vivid descriptions of rarely noted events, A People's History of the United States is required reading for anyone who wants to take a fresh look at the rich, rocky history of America.
Book Description
Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, A People's History of the United States is the only volume to tell America's story from the point of view of -- and in the words of -- America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, working poor, and immigrant laborers.
This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.
Customer Reviews:
The detail behind the headlines we were taught........2007-10-10
A thorough review of our country's unfiltered history through the eyes of an academic who recognizes and records the massive struggles that got us to present day. Once you read this text, you will better understand why we are who we are as a nation! Should be mandatory reading in every basic college history course.
The Things we aren't told about in school........2007-10-03
If you ever want the missing pieces of history filled in from your US history courses - READ THIS. Labor strikes, public strife, divide and conquer propaganda to keep lower classes at bay - all very interesting and angering.
Biased focus a disappointment.......2007-10-02
Zinn disappoints with a biased and narrow accounting of the United States' history. Despite the one-sided slant on key events (and much information not presented), this book is worth reading if only for the volume of factual stories and events gleamed over by conventional texts.
A people's History of the US.......2007-09-28
It is a book I needed for a college class. I have not read it but my review is on the speedy delivery of the book. I received it quickly and was the book was in great shape. Thanks
The Left's Perspective.......2007-09-25
(Surprise ending to review) I have to say the book was enjoyable but also very sickening. America's long history is filled with a lot of evil leaders, diplomats, discoverers, teachers, students, and.... let's just say people. The victims are countless; this book tells their story.... in vivid detail mind you. I myself read the book long ago. However, I recently had to come to Afghanistan, sit in a guard tower, and listen to the newer end of the book (audiobook) told by Issacson himself. Basically he blames America for 9/11 and feels we have no business in the country I currently serve in, even at the very beginning. I don't know your politics but there it is. Now here is my opinion, I no longer trust him, or any of his observations about America's past. Honestly worth reading, but with one eye shut!
Book Description
A landmark study that offers an alternative history of the Cold War from the point of view of the world's poor.
'"Europe" is morally, spiritually indefensible. And today the indictment is brought against it…by tens and tens of thousands of millions of men who, from the depths of slavery, set themselves up as judges.'—Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism
Here, from a brilliant young writer, is a paradigm-shifting history of both a utopian concept and global movement—the idea of the Third World. The Darker Nations traces the intellectual origins and the political history of the twentieth century attempt to knit together the world's impoverished countries in opposition to the United States and Soviet spheres of influence in the decades following World War II.
Spanning every continent of the global South, Vijay Prashad's fascinating narrative takes us from the birth of postcolonial nations after World War II to the downfall and corruption of nationalist regimes. A breakthrough book of cutting-edge scholarship, it includes vivid portraits of Third World giants like India's Nehru, Egypt's Nasser, and Indonesia's Sukarno—as well as scores of extraordinary but now-forgotten intellectuals, artists, and freedom fighters. The Darker Nations restores to memory the vibrant though flawed idea of the Third World, whose demise, Prashad ultimately argues, has produced a much impoverished international political arena. 12 b/w photographs.
Customer Reviews:
still waiting.......2007-08-29
In 1927, two hundred delegates from thirty-seven states and regions gathered in Brussels and formed the League Against Imperialism. In doing so they gave an institutional voice to the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of the vast majority of the people in the world who eventually found their countries sandwiched between the "first" world of the United States and the "second" world of the Soviet Union. Not wanting to align with either empire, from that meeting onward the "third world" (a word coined in 1952 by Albert Sauvy) became a prolonged international project and not just a place of misery. The setting was fraught with irony, for Belgium was then led by King Leopold II, whose shameless pillage of the Congo had few peers. In this history of the majority of the world's peoples, Vijay Prashad traces their elusive quest, its problems and pitfalls, and the causes and consequences of its failure.
Prashad's organization takes one on a global tour; each one of his eighteen chapter titles is a major city of the third world project. In Part 1 he considers the quest (Paris, Brussels, Bandung, Cairo, Buenos Aires, Tehran, Belgrade, and Havana); in Part 2 the pitfalls (Algiers, La Paz, Bali, Tawang, Caracas, and Arusha); then in Part 3 the "assassinations" of the project (New Delhi, Kingston, Singapore, Mecca). The third world sought three goals, he says: political independence and self-rule; peaceful co-existence and non-violent international relations; and using the United Nations as the means to push its agenda, all in contrast to the militarism, economic dominance, and ostensible superiority of the American and Soviet spheres. Along the way Prashad tackles most every aspect of this struggle, including education, bureaucratism, land reform, suffrage, religion, revolutionary violence, foreign aid, transnational corporations, the "villigization" of millions of people, the debt crisis, natural resources, and women's discrimination.
The third world project failed badly for many complex reasons. After freeing themselves from the shackles of imperial overlords, countries tended to centralize power in the state instead of establishing effective social democracies, stifled dissent, ignored rule of law, plundered national treasure, and set up military regimes ruled by dictator-thugs ("Nothing good comes from a military dictatorship."). The predator first world continued their economic plunder thanks to the threat of overwhelming military, political, and economic means (globalization, the IMF, etc.). And thus the "catastrophic demise" of the third world project. Crushing debt and widening income gaps between rich and poor nations are only the most obvious signs that most people in the world remain marginalized by their own states and exploited by the first world. But at least they now have a history of their struggle, thanks to Prashad.
The Bruised Peoples.......2007-06-15
This book gets high marks for its sheer wealth of information, though it's not a casual reading experience. Here Vijay Prashad has continued the spirit of Howard Zinn's classic "A People's History of the United States," and this book is a strong inaugural release in what will hopefully be a continuing series. Here Prashad constructs the "Third World" as a Cold War term for all the disadvantaged nations that were caught in the crossfire between the First and Second Worlds, and were usually abused as pawns in the era's strictly bilateral games of geopolitics and development. Specifically, most of Prashad's work concerns the Non-Aligned Movement of nations that tried to resist taking sides in the bilateral Cold War, and attempted to build a coalition of nations that could stand as a viable entity with its own ideologies and political strategies. Prashad provides a wealth of little-known information on the nations and leaders that attempted to build this movement, and the political and economic realities faced by the peoples and societies that were being used and left behind by the superpowers.
Those familiar with Zinn's book will recognize the travails of the passionate historian who can't figure out how to synthesize vast quantities of historical knowledge. The first half of this book is tough to digest, consisting of an interminable laundry list of names and events with little over-arching analysis, giving the impression that Prashad is trying to describe every single thing that happened during the Cold War era outside of the US, Europe, and USSR. Occasional snippets of theory also seem forced and awkward, such as Prashad's examinations of unnatural borders or the behavior of military dictators. Fortunately, the book improves in the second half, as Prashad manages to develop his previously disconnected bits of history and theory into a strong overall analysis of how the superpowers "assassinated" (in his rather hyperbolic term) the Third World movement and its promises of social and economic progress, through globalization, conquest, and corporatism. Most importantly, Prashad does not refrain from criticizing the Third World nations too, as many of them have compounded their own misery by reverting to old styles of inequality and dictatorship. While this book has some real readability issues, and Prashad can sometimes be faulted for steering historical data toward his own theories, the reader is rewarded with a great amount of knowledge on peoples and leaders who have been forgotten in the histories of winners. [~doomsdayer520~]
Good.......2007-04-15
The Third World is a Cold War term, meaning mostly former nations that were ruled by Europeans and won their political independence in the decades after the second world war. That's how most people understand it anyway. It started off as a term of empowerment and hope by the leaders of the newly independent countries in the 1950s, after years of trying to bind the colonized into a single cause. These leaders saw that the First capitalist world and the Second Soviet-bloc world needed the Third world for its resources, people, and support in the global cold war, and they did not want to be pawns anymore.
The Third World Project started in the 1955 at the Bandung Asian-African Conference, when the Nonaligned Movement was founded (NAM) in opposition to the 1st and 2nd Worlds. From here, the Third World was split by internal divisions, attacks by the West and Eastern blocs, and finally outright destruction of the "Third World" by economic policies pushed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the United States, as well as political and military attacks by the USA and its allies. In "The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World" by Vijay Prashad, the history of this push for unity, the contradictions of the class of leaders in trying to build this better Third world, the splits within the movement, and the final assassination of the Third World Project.
The book switches between different locations and different situations. Prashad points out that there was a strange contradiction in the work of building a Third World. The ruling class of the decolonized countries supported the new rulers, in many places, who wanted to stand up for themselves. But at the same time, as time went on, they also supported all-powerful dictators and neo-liberal economics that lead to the resources of the country being drained out like vampires (leading to continuation of places which have some of the richest resources of the world and some of the poorest people, like in Congo.) Projects like OPEC started as the "darker nations" tried to control their own politics, though it soon disintegrated into just rulers enriching themselves. In the end, they worked better with ruling classes of the 1st world than the people of their own countries.
Prashad goes to each place, from Singapore, to Indonesia and Suharto, to Baghdad, and explores the rise and fall of the Third World. Today, he ends, the Third World is dead. However, an international movement, free of imposed movements from above or directly by the elites of the government, has arisen and the world is changing to oppose the US. The book is an interesting look at an attempt by the leaders of former colonized places to fight back, though it can be a little disorienting traveling across so many places so fast (which is probably what trying to organize all those places to act together would have been like.) How the First World was able to destroy this movement is a pretty good lesson of history for any person to know.
Excellent.......2007-03-14
I've heard Prashad occassionally on WBAI and am kicking myself for taking so long to get around to his work. This is one of the greatest books ever written on the Third World. Its cogent, lucid and thorough. What I found very interesting was the book's balance. I can imagine how diffult it must've been to explicate each Nation's history in a few hundred pages adequately. He also excelled at depicting just how connected - Poitically / Sociologically and Economically - Third World Nations really are. This is indispensable in understanding the current state of the Third World. Undoubtedly, one for the shelves.
Worthy read for those interested.......2007-02-27
Well done. Bringing together material usually found in national, regional, and international histories the author orders material topically with chapter titles of cities where major events related to each theme happened.
Although not easy reading because much of the material is unfamiliar to most readers, the discussions are handled well and judgements usually sound. It is a wonder that this book could be written at all because of the breadth required. If you know one region of the world this volume will open your eyes and provide rich information for comparison.
Even if one is put off by views reflecting sympathy for the "Darker Peoples", critical of colonial mythmaking and neoliberal globalization alike - the control of the facts and history demands attention.
Book Description
"Thank you, Howard Zinn. Thank you for telling us what none of our leaders are willing to: The truth. And you tell it with such brilliance, such humanity. It is a personal honor to be able to say I am a better citizen because of you."-- Michael Moore, director of the film Fahrenheit 9/11, and author of the New York Times bestseller, Stupid White Men ...and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation!
Find here the voice of the well-educated and honorable and capable and human United States of America, which might have existed if only absolute power had not corrupted its third-rate leaders so absolutely.-- Kurt Vonnegut, author of A Man Without a Country
A Power Governments Cannot Suppress, is a major new collection of essays on American history, class, immigration, justice, and ordinary citizens who have made a difference. Zinn addresses America's current political/ethical crisis using lessons learned from our nation's history. Zinn brings a profoundly human, yet uniquely American perspective to each subject he writes about, whether it's the abolition of war, terrorism, the Founding Fathers, the Holocaust, defending the rights of immigrants, or personal liberties. Written in an accessible, personal tone, Zinn approaches the telling of U.S. history from an active, engaged point of view. "America's future is linked to how we understand our past," writes Zinn; "For this reason, writing about history, for me, is never a neutral act."
Zinn frames the book with an opening essay titled "If History is to be Creative," a reflection on the role and responsibility of the historian. "To think that history-writing must aim simply to recapitulate the failures that dominate the past," writes Zinn, "is to make historians collaborators in an endless cycle of defeat." "If history is to be creative, to anticipate a possible future without denying the past, it should, I believe, emphasize new possibilities by disclosing those hidden episodes of the past when, even if in brief flashes, people showed their ability to resist, to join together, and occasionally win. I am supposing, or perhaps only hoping, that our future may be found in the past's fugitive moments of compassion rather than in its solid centuries of warfare."
Buzzing with stories and ideas, Zinn draws upon fascinating, little-known historical anecdotes spanning from the Declaration of Independence to the USA PATRIOT Act to comment on the most controversial issues facing us today: government dishonesty, how to respond to terrorism, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the loss of our liberties, immigration, and the responsibility of the citizen to confront power for the common good.
Considered a "modern-day Thoreau" by Jonathon Kozol, Zinn's inspired writings address the reader as an active participant in history making. "We live in a beautiful country," writes Zinn, in the book's opening chapter. "But people who have no respect for human life, freedom, or justice have taken it over. It is now up to all of us to take it back."
Featuring essays penned over an eight-year period, A Power Governments Cannot Suppress is Howard Zinn's first writerly work in several years, an invaluable post-9/11-era addition to the themes that run through his bestselling classic, A People's History Of the United States.
Howard Zinn is a veteran of World War II and author of many books and plays, including the million-selling classic, A People's History of the United States.
Customer Reviews:
Validates my choice to oppose Cheney & attack on Iran.......2007-09-03
Earlier today I reviewed The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire, and the Future of America by Peter Dale Scott, and coined a new term of praise, "erudite patriot." That was one of many reviews from my long recent trip to the Middle East that I could finally post.
I would never have anticipated that in reading this book today, I would not only encounter a second "erudite patriot," but that my somewhat anxious decision to directly and repeatedly focus public attention on the high crimes and misdemeanors of Dick Cheney, would be so elegantly validated with a firm grounding in public resistance to tyranny and amorality.
The author, an eminent historian, is the people's historian. He alone has documented the many times in which public resistance brought odious government programs to a stop.
Although a collection of past essays, this book actually reads fast and well as a survey of the fundamentals empowered by historical example and accuracy. I was strongly reaffirmed in my beliefs by this book, reinforced in my relatively recent commitment to bringing Cheney to justice.
The author, unique qualified to do so, informs us that people have resisted before, that the osmosis of truth ultimate swings the public, and as the book title suggests, no government can resist an aroused public.
The author suggests, and I agree, that impeachment of Cheney first, is essential. Our government has lost all legitimacy in my eyes, and I would resist arrest by this goveernment to the death of them or I, after first attempting to persuade the good-hearted people sent to arrest me that they should disobey the illegal order to arrest me, and live to see their families that night.
Every single essay in this book is moving, intelligent, cogent, and relevant to the greatest crisis our Republic has ever faced. The author's review of our greatest betrayal, of the wounded from Gulf I and Gulf II (he does not mention that unlike Gulf I, Gulf II produced 16 instead of 6 wounded for every death, and we have 75,000 amputees across the land, lives shatted by Dick Cheney's lies, by Paul Wolfowitz's lies, by Donald Rumsfeld's idiocy and arrogance).
The author is compelling in stating that war is the enemy, and one is reminded of the outcome of War Games: the only winning strategy is not to play at war for profit or any other reason.
The author is compelling in cataloging the litany of lies by our Presidents, and the manner in which our Founding Fathers designed the government to protect the rich and enslave the poor.
The author is compelling in pointing out that we must all question authority, and that the one thing we should all recognize now is that we can unite and be invincible, non-violently invincible, in demanding dignity, justice, and liberty for all--not just all Americans, but every person on the planet and especially those repressed by the 44 dictators, 42 of whom are Bush-Cheney "allies."
The author is compelling in damning the hypocrisy of this Administration, and I will tell everyone for a fact that below the White House level, most political appointees are shocked, scared, scared, angry, and hopeful that America will impeach the idiot-in-chief and the thief-in-chief. I am an estranged moderate Republican, and I never, ever, imagined that the Republican Party would become the runner up to global crimes so grotesque and extensive that only Hitler and his genocide against the Jews rate above it.
The author is compelling in calling for new new ways, for waging peace instead of war, for undertaking a general strike (I even thought the time has come to make all our tax payments to an escrow account instead of to the existing hijacked government).
I stand with the author in commiting to non-violent opposition to this totalitarian and amoral White House. Non-violence works. All that We the People need to do is withdraw our obedience. I really like the idea of a general strike, and I respectfully suggest to one and all that if America attacks Iran with Israel, that is the day when we should all go on indefinite general strike, and not return to work, nor pay taxes, until all US forces are withdrawn from the Middle East.
Under existing law & regulations, the above statement could be interpreted by Bush-Cheney as giving comfort to the enemey, and I could be arrested and all my property confiscated. That is how low this Republic has gone.
I must say, Howard Zinn's brilliance and integrity have bathed me with a warm glow of confidence in We the People. I feel protected, reinforced, encouraged, renewed, heartened by his wisdom. With such great minds as his speaking out, I am confident We the People will prevail.
You must, absolutely, buy this this book, read it, and recommend it to others. Other books that I have reviewed and recommend:
The Average American: The Extraordinary Search for the Nation's Most Ordinary Citizen
Escaping the Matrix: How We the People can change the world
All Rise: Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity (BK Currents)
Democracy's Edge: Choosing to Save Our Country by Bringing Democracy to Life
The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All
Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency
The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People
The Fifty-Year Wound: How America's Cold War Victory Has Shaped Our World
Roz is so lucky..........2007-06-13
I love this book. I love every book written by Howard Zinn that I've read so far(5, maybe 6, I can't remember). His perspective is one that we should all try to live by because ultimately it's the only way for the planet and its occupants to survive. He also gives hope to Americans in certainly the darkest period I've ever lived through...and I think hope is a good thing, a necessary thing in order to face the challenges that we have today.
This book is excellent because it documents and explains historical situations, past and present, so eloquently and yet so simply that a child could read it and understand what he's talking about even if the larger concepts are too complex. It is inspiring because it demonstrates how any one of us can make a difference. I highly recommend this book in particular because Americans need to understand that they are, through their own apathy and reluctance to become active, responsible for what is going on but that they can effect change through the slightest of actions. It is an easy read because it's a series of previously published articles but they are all relevant to what is going on today and they all require reflection.
Highly, highly recommended.
Everyone should read this........2007-05-12
If you think you know American history, read this book and any other book you can get by Howard Zinn...he's easy to read, not ponderous like some intellectuals..yet he clearly states his points of view using documented events not theories...clearly I'm a big fan of Howard Zinn..won't you join me?
A strident call to action.......2007-04-10
Written by historian, playwright, and World War II veteran Howard Zinn, A Power Governments Cannot Suppress is a scathing attack against America's political and ethical failings, using examples of atrocities America perpetuated in history - from massacres in Vietnam to abuses of Chinese immigrant labor workers to complicity in the genocide of East Timor and much more - to add context to current ills such as the extended toll of the war in Iraq. "There is no certainty as to what would happen in our absence [in Iraq]. But there is absolute certainty about the result of our presence - escalating deaths on all sides." Zinn is firmly anti-death penalty and decries its usage as well. Of especial interest in A Power Governments Cannot Suppress is the author's denouncement of a disturbing tendency to compartmentalize the Holocaust, to forget the millions of non-Jews that were executed along with 6 million Jews, and worse, neglect the occurrence of modern acts of genocide thereby betraying the memory of victims of the Holocaust genocide. A strident call to action, speaking out against governmental and human misdeeds, and vociferously encouraging the reader to stand up and take action..
But Zinn is the government!.......2007-03-31
Zinn's attempts to position himself as a foe of oppression flies into the face of the reality that he works for the government - the only institution with a legally recognized right to commit violence against the individual. As a university employee, Zinn is the government, as are the legions of graduate students parroting his ideology as if were histroy in order to earn the right to be employed in government bureaucracies passing themselves off as universities. Were Zinn honest, he would resign his position and let the free market determine the value of his ideology. But instead, he has shamelessly used his government position in order to subsidize an ideological crusade know would pay for voluntarily.
How disingenous! Of both him and the sheep passing themselves off as intellectuals who believe his k-r-a-p.
Book Description
"In these desperate times, when lies and half-truths are official policy, when our young people and innocent Iraqi civilians pay with their lives for these lies, this book is a clear presentation of the crimes of Bush and Cheney. The chapters in this strong, thoughtful collection not only powerfully detail these crimes, they point a way forward for us all. I urge every thinking American to read this book."
âCindy Sheehan, anti-war activist and author of Dear President Bush
"An airtight case for impeaching Bush and Cheney for war crimes and domestic malfeasance. It's high time for legal regime change!"
âMarjorie Cohn, President-elect, National Lawyers Guild
"An eye-opening, multi-layered indictment of the lawless rule of the Bush White House reactionaries. A well-edited, well-substantiated, an dwell-argued offering of hard-hitting truths that can serve as a manual for political action."
âMichael Parenti, author of The Culture Struggle and Superpatriotism
âA looming, new totalitarianismâthat is the warning here. Citizens who feel uneasy owe it to themselves to read this important book and think about how to exercise their responsibilities. Citizenship, truth be told, isn't easy, nor free.â
âGeorge Kenney, former State Department Official
"They can say that Homeland Security and FEMA are on the job, but New Orleans proves them wrong. They can claim they’re winning the war on terror and the war in Iraq, but everyday the facts belie their claims. They can assure us that they’re protecting our civil liberties and doing everything by the book, but nearly every week brings fresh revelations of their lawbreaking."
-from the Conclusion
This brilliantly argued and wonderfully written collection by twenty-two of the best political analysts in the US analyzes the extraordinary and unprecedented threat the White House and its allies present to civil liberties, civil rights, the Constitution, international law, and the future of the planet.
Impeach the President unearths the stories behind election fraud in 2000 and 2004, the overt lies used to justify pre-emptive war on Iraq, the extensive, ongoing commission of war crimes and torture, the tragic failures in the lead-up to and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and lesser-known but equally alarming offences of propaganda and disinformation, illegal spying, environmental destruction, and the violation of the separation of church and state. Loo and Phillips chillingly reveal the full threat behind the radical right-wing force that has taken over the world’s most powerful office.
The collection includes a striking introduction by Howard Zinn and contributions from Dennis Loo, Peter Phillips, Judith Volkart, Dahr Jamail, Jeremy Brecher, Jill Cutler, Brendan Smith, Larry Everest, Greg Palast, Nancy Snow, Barbara Bowley, Mark Crispin Miller, Kevin Wehr, Richard Heinberg, Lyn Duff, Dennis Bernstein, Bridget Thornton, Lew Brown, Andrew Sloan, Cynthia Boaz, and Michael Nagler.
Impeach the President stands out from other books on impeachment in that it also explains why the Bush White House is doing what it is doing and why it is getting away with it. The book issues a clarion call for a popular movement even more powerful than the 1960s’ antiwar movement.
DENNIS LOO is Associate Professor of Sociology at Cal Poly Pomona. His specialties include polls, public policy making, social movements, media and criminology. His 2005 article, "No Paper Trail Left Behind: the Theft of the 2004 Presidential Election," received wide acclaim.
PETER PHILLIPS, director of Project Censored, is Professor of Sociology at Sonoma State University. He is known for his op-ed pieces in the alternative press and independent newspapers nationwide, such as Z Magazine and Social Policy.
Customer Reviews:
A Must-Read for All Americans.......2007-05-25
This is a book that will answer questions and doubts that we have for our government, and it totally shatters the images that our government has been putting on to us. If you think you know how our society works (from reading and studying textbooks from school), read this book twice. This book will not only make its readers open up their eyes, but also to raise more questions about the society we are living in today.
Like taking the RED pill........2007-05-23
This book was eye opening for me. Warning: It is like taking the red pill, you can't go back to how things were before. Not only is the case against Bush and Cheney laid out clearly, there are also points made against the media in the US and how the government is being run. Each essay in each chapter forms a different part of the argument for impeachment. Topics range from all of the blunders and lies about Iraq, to global warming, to election fraud. This book is really worth reading, and when you are done you will never be the same.
A Good Book, But Some Serious Flaws.......2007-04-23
I'm sorry that I am going to break up the five star party for this book, but to do less would be dishonest. While I found the book to be good, with useful information, I also found several flaws that hurt the book for use as a primary source for those that wish to learn about the possibility of impeachment of President Bush.
The book is written as separate essays by various authors on different subjects that could lead to the impeachment of the President. Each of the articles, alone, would stand nicely and be a valuable piece in a magazine. When grouped together, however, there is a repetition of information that slows the book down and makes it tiring to read. Better editing could correct this problem.
A more serious flaw is the promotion of rather abstract theories to use in an impeachment procedure. Voter fraud in 2004, for one, probably happened, but it would be almost impossible to investigate thoroughly and incorporate as an impeachment article. And, while global warming is occurring, I don't think you can impeach a president for lack of action. That would be a policy decision, and if it were an impeachable offense, it will make every president a sitting duck for everyone that doesn't like their particular policies.
Finally, use of arguments such President Bush's campaign in Haiti are flawed. It will be difficult to get an impeachment with traditional charges, let alone on something that most Americans haven't heard about and probably don't care about either. Muddying the water with these items will make impeachment more difficult, and failing to get a conviction a near certainty. In addition, the writings are too "liberal" for most main stream Americans...the same ones who get their news from Fox and their ilk.
Having said all of that, I do think the book is an important work that should be read by every American. It highlights the numerous failures of this President and would make for excellent background material on a possible impeachment. And, finally, I think this book will be used as a textbook for years to come when the failings of Bush are studied.
A Wake-up Call.......2007-03-26
This is a powerful, shocking, page-turning exposition of not only the impeachable offenses of Bush-Cheney, but the deeper empire-building pathology of these guys and others that make up an elite network of politicians, corporate leaders, military leaders, and intellectuals that have been working to dominate the globe - the aptly named, "Global Dominance Group." This work goes beyond the other Bush-Cheney impeachment books to reveal how and why we have come to our current crisis in this country, thereby providing the necessary understanding for eventually turning this country back into the vision of our Founding Fathers, a democratic republic that respects the rule of law and other "enlightened" principles of human rights, equality, and justice. A truly remarkable work of writing and research that will wake you up to the real workings and intentions of this administration.
Best of the Genre.......2007-01-27
Kudos to Drs. Loo and Phillips for bringing together and contributing to Impeach the President. While I have kept contemporaneously informed with respect to most of the issues addressed therein (read: I have been FREAKING OUT for 6 years now,) what made the book refreshing and, in my opinion, the best of its genre, was not just the excellent recounting of the egregious abuses perpetrated by this Administration, but that most of the authors asked, and attempted to answer - what can we do? And what really sets the book apart from all the others is that the authors acknowledge the reality that nothing - nothing - short of the most organized and best prepared citizen movement will bring about the change that is required if democracy is to survive.
Book Description
The acclaimed author of A People's History of the United States (more than 200,000 copies sold) presents an honest and piercing look at American political ideology.
Customer Reviews:
An examination of American ideology in light of American history, and vice-versa.......2006-07-21
Revisionist historian Howard Zinn, most well known for his monumental People's History of the United States, here turns his crystal-clear lens of historical criticism to the cherished myths of American politics. After first defining "American ideology" as "a dominant pattern of ideas" in whose company belong such notions as "democracy," "national security," "free press," etc., Zinn proceeds to examine each of these tenets in more detail.
His methods are historical, in that he looks to the past for concrete examples of American political activity that can support or invalidate the self-accolades of the American body politic. His goal is political, however, in that he reveals American political ideology to be at its best, simply hollow rhetoric, and at the worst, pernicious double-speak. He argues persuasively that the democratic republic whose birth certificate (the Declaration of Independence) includes a clause supporting its own execution has been replaced by a national power which does everything (and anything) in order "to maintain the state."
Professor Zinn makes powerful arguments and reveals an abundance of historical data to challenge many cherished American institutions. "Free speech" is examined in the light of various political machinations including the Sedition Act of 1798 and the Espionage Act (under whose provisions Eugene V. Debs was imprisoned for opposing WWI). Not even the sacred cow of World War II (the "Good War") is safe from Zinn's cleaver, which reduces it to a very satisfying porterhouse of political power-mongering and governmental greed, as he argues against the very notion of a "just war."
Provocative and compassionate and very, very necessary in today's world of sound-bite media where political analysis is replaced with marketing surveys and the content of discussion has given way to meaningless aphorisms of received wisdom and grunts of derision. The Wizard does not want us to look behind the curtain, and here Howard Zinn stands smiling, with the pull-cord in his hands.
Even The Detractors Make This Book's Case.......2006-02-04
To date - 2/4/06 - There have been 28 reviews posted about this book and its author (not counting my review nor whatever others may have been removed from this site) since 1999.
Of the 28 reviews, nearly every one was a 5-star review! That so many folks responded so positively says something. For detractors, to appreciate this book implies we are either un-"Patriotic", un-"American", "Communists", or simply stupid, deluded and misinformed.
(I placed the above three words in quotation marks because their common usage definitions transcend dictionary entries, which is precisely why such books are so necessary. Abstract concepts demand careful and constant examination and interpersonal redefinition lest they collapse into harmful, unproductive labeling, name-calling and character assassination.)
I found only one 1-star comment, which reduced the entire book to leftist opinion. More refreshingly, I found the only 2-star review by "just a guy" (Revolutionary without a revolution...yet, April 25, 2002) - a long list of quotes and page references intended to bolster his position that Zinn is a Communist - had the opposite effect for me! I copy and pasted his review into a text document for future reference, and immediately ordered a half dozen copies to share with my Right-wing, Conservative friends!
Odd as it may sound, "Liberals" and Conservatives" can be friends...when their ideologies don't replace their humanity in each other's eyes.
[...]
A unique look at American history.......2004-12-30
Howard Zinn has written a highly informative and enjoyable book. He takes on and demolishes some of the most pervasive myths in American history, from the "necessity" of dropping the atomic bombs on Japan to the common but mistaken belief that the First Amendment has protected free speech in America. I highly recommend this book to all readers of American history, regardless of their political persuasion.
Hardly an unqualified admirer of this country, Zinn pulls no punches in attacking America's dark past, from slavery and segregation of black people to the exploitation of workers in the early 1900s. He is also a strong critic of American foreign policy. In what may be the most controversial part of the book, he attacks the common belief that war can be just. Zinn shows that even in World War II much of the killing was unneccessary. Many conservatives will object to this, but I think Zinn makes a solid case for pacificism. Just as controversial, Zinn believes free speech in America exists basically for the rich. Class conflict is a recurring theme throughout Declarations of Independence.
This was a terrific book and I look forward to reading A People's History of the United States.
Very impressive. :).......2004-04-16
I picked this up at a bookstore, totally unknown of
Howard Zinn (don't have a chance to read those commi-like
books), but found very impressive... not communist-oriented,
simply one of the best book I found which talks about the
future of capitalism and democracy.
Let Howard Zinn shake out the cobwebs and open your eyes.......2003-06-14
"There is a fable written by German playwright Bertolt Brecht that goes roughly like this: A man living alone answers a knock at the door. When he opens it, he sees in the doorway the powerful body, the cruel face, of The Tyrant. The Tyrant asks, "Will you submit?" The man does not reply. He steps aside. The Tyrant enters and establishes himself in the man's house. The man serves him for years. Then The Tyrant becomes sick from food poisoning. He dies. The man wraps the body, opens the door, gets rid of the body, comes back to his house, closes the door behind him, and says, firmly, "No.""
This quote illustrates Zinn's contention that momentous changes can occur with patience and without submission. Zinn points out that throughout history, the results of wars are not what were expected or planned, unpredicatable events occur. Given that, the "unacceptable means" of war do not justify the "uncertain ends".
This book was written in 1990 before the breakup of the Soviet Union and the end of apartheid although Zinn states the hope that such events will happen.
Although these milestones in history were yet to come, I was struck by the timeliness of the book, many sections could have been written about events and trends happening today. I recommend this book to everyone who feels swept away and powerless in America today. Read this book and do not submit.
Amazon.com
Consistently lauded for its lively, readable prose, A People's History of the United States turns traditional textbook history on its head, as Howard Zinn infuses the often-submerged voices of blacks, women, American Indians, war resisters, and poor laborers of all nationalities into the narrative. The Twentieth Century uses the relevant chapters of that book as a starting point, expanding upon the story to provide a rich portrait of the United States from the jingoistic rise of Theodore Roosevelt to the Clinton presidency. If your last experience of American history was brought to you by junior-high-school textbooks--or even if you're a specialist--get ready for the other side of stories you may not even have heard. With its vivid descriptions of rarely noted events, The Twentieth Century is required reading for anyone who wants to take a fresh look at America's legacy as a world power.
Book Description
Containing just the twentieth-century chapters from Howard Zinn's bestselling A People's History of the United States, this revised and updated edition includes two new chapters -- covering Clinton's presidency, the 2000 Election, and the "war on terrorism."
Highlighting not just the usual terms of presidential administrations and congressional activities, this book provides you with a "bottom-to-top" perspective, giving voice to our nation's minorities and letting the stories of such groups as African Americans, women, Native Americans, and the laborers of all nationalities be told in their own words.
Customer Reviews:
Zinn's Opus.......2007-01-04
I believe this should be a compulsory text in high schools, so students could get another point of view of "history", and people like George Bush, John Howard, and Tony Blair should be made to do a test to prove they have at least read it.
Zinn provides a masterful analysis of 20th century world events from the point of view of the left, the downtrodden, people of colour and writes in an easy to read fashion.
Too much of a good thing.......2005-08-29
Zinn's approach is truly refreshing and provocative. He looks at History from the point of view of people who are mostly ignored by other historians. He presents the stories and viewpoints of workers, minorities, and other sections of society that have not been heard through other historical narratives. Thus, he provides rare insights, provokes thoughts regarding continuing to accept the normal 'glorious' dissemination of conquests and is refreshingly different.
Despite all the above, his approach, sometimes, becomes difficult to read. This is probably due to the fact that I am much more used to reading normal history and have lost my capability to hear just the peoples' voices. As the broader context is not very clear, I sometimes felt that the trees were robbing me of the forest. His premise is proved in a short while, the repetition of further evidence is difficult to sustain interest in.
Quite a Read! An Important Minority Report on the History of the U.S........2005-08-14
No historian of the United States is more provocative than Howard Zinn, whose leftist philosophy permeates his writings and never fails to challenge his readers. "The Twentieth Century: A People's History" is every bit as ambitious as his other works; it is drawn from the latter part of his "A People's History of the United States" with additional chapters to bring the chronicle to the end of the century. Like the majority of other works by Zinn, this one is a must read for anyone seeking to ensure the broadest possible perspective on the American past. What is presented here will be disturbing to many and perhaps angering to some, but as always he presents his analysis with a style and verve that is rigorous and often compelling. If you are not up to being challenged read something else that presents a more consensus perspective on the past, such as Stephen Ambrose or David McCullough. But if you are willing to consider that there might be more to the story of the twentieth century than you learned in school and from consensus historians, then ponder the ideas in this book.
Zinn believes, and states throughout this work, that the dominant narrative of American history focusing "on the Founding Fathers and the Presidents weigh oppressively on the capacity of the ordinary citizen to act. They suggest that in times of crisis we must look to someone to save us: in the Revolutionary crisis, the Founding Fathers; in the slavery crisis, Lincoln; in the Depression, Roosevelt; in the Vietnam-Watergate crisis, Carter. And that between occasional crises everything is all right...The idea of saviors has been built into the entire culture, beyond politics. We have learned to look to stars, leaders, experts in every field, thus surrendering our own strength, demeaning our own ability, obliterating our own selves" (pp. 413-14).
Zinn abhors this aspect of our culture, and seeks to tell the story of those who bucked it throughout the twentieth century. He argues that the power elite in America have created a system of control in which most people do not even realize they are being controlled. "With a country so rich in natural resources, talent, and labor power the system can afford to distribute just enough wealth to just enough people to limit discontent to a troublesome minority" (p. 414), he writes. Zinn notes that one percent of the nation owns one third of the wealth, and that the elite dole out just enough to placate the rest, all the while pitting them against each other. He adds, "These groups have resented each other and warred against each other with such vehemence and violence as to obscure their common position as sharers of leftovers, in a very wealthy country" (p. 414). This book is really about those who battled that system, and he celebrates Eugene Debs, Daniel and Philip Berrigan, Angela Davis, Martin Luther King, Bill Haywood, and thousands of others who challenged the status quo.
No question, Zinn views the history of the twentieth century--as well as earlier--in the U.S. as a struggle between the haves and the have nots. The haves, he comments, have been enormously successful in securing their hegemony against far greater numbers in no small part because of "all-embracing symbols, physical and verbal: the flag, patriotism, democracy, national interest, national defense, national security" (p. 415). Appeals to these themes, he believes, have been effectively used to blunt the criticism of the system that otherwise might bring it tumbling down. Thus, George W. Bush has appealed to flag-waving patriotism to unite a divided country and maintain control rather than deal with the underlying reasons for terrorism, "deep grievances against the United States" (p. 474).
"The Twentieth Century: A People's History" is a powerful book with ideas revolutionary in character. If you don't want to consider them then don't read it. Zinn certainly makes no apologies for his position. His is a distinctly minority voice in a discussion of the century just past, but an important and eloquent one. One that we all might learn something from.
A Must Read.......2005-07-12
Zinn's history is a must read for every American who has any pretense of being educated. The author cuts through the myhths and half truths that usually pass for legitimate history and offers a myriad of facts and insights that give a fuller and more complete picture of what American history is really all about.
The REAL History Of The American People!.......2005-01-21
When it comes to smashing social shibboleths into smithereens, no one is more expert than noted historian Howard Zinn, who has made a career of retelling the story of American history in ways that debunk the comfortable old saws that focus almost exclusively on leaders and large organizations, leaving the central story of the actual history of the American people largely misrepresented, unfocused and untold. Here he remedies the overall treatment of more populist aspects of the American experience for ordinary people in the twentieth century, correcting the oversight by more conventional historians that exclude any serious discussion of organized labor or groups seeking rights and extensions of social privileges to the common working man.
The book is written (as are all Zinn's efforts to date) in a wonderfully approachable prose that is both easy to read and yet eminently entertaining. One walks away from the reading experience with a profound new respect for the consistent efforts of the common American man and woman to secure a better, brighter, and more abundant future for themselves and their children against what often seems to be the insuperable odds represented in entrenched resistance of organized business and government forces. One element that is obvious in all of Zinn's representations is that, as H. L Mencken once put it, America may have the best government that money can buy, but unfortunately, the people do not own it; the corporations do.
I would consider this book as an essential ingredient in any history student's broad education in the sense that it helps one to gain some critical perspective of just how often and how consistently most of the active forces within our social orbit serve to intentionally deceive the common man by accentuating certain aspects of phenomena and excluding or misrepresenting certain other information in order to better manipulate and control public opinion. Whether, for example, it be the federal government forwarding the public argument that the reasons we attacked Iraq was to secure freedom for Iraqis rather than admitting it was due to interests of global corporate forces to control the indigenous Iraqi oil production and distribution, or misrepresenting the corporate or governmental reasons for wanting to change the way in which shortfalls in social security funding will be addressed, Zinn returns the reader to a more critical view of the subject matter in view; thus one begins to see more systematically how the entrenched interests of the power elite continually are engaged in an unfair and unprincipled and ruthlessly relentless one-way class warfare, that it purposefully manipulates and propagandizes the general public through manipulation of the content and context of information via its ownership of the several avenues of the mass media in order, thereby serving its own social, economic, and political interests while deliberately keeping the common man unwittingly compliant in maintaining his own servitude. Enjoy!
Book Description
Every year the American Dream inspires hundreds of thousands of people to risk their savings-and their lives-to enter the United States in search of a better life. Increasingly, instead of finding their dream, many encounter a nightmare-a country whose culture and legal system aggressively target and prosecute them.
In Targeted, journalist Deepa Fernandes seamlessly weaves together history, political analysis, and first-person narratives of those caught in the grips of the increasingly Kafkaesque US Homeland Security system: immigrants, non-citizens and undocumented workers. Deepa-herself an immigrant well-acquainted with US immigration procedures-takes the reader on a harrowing journey inside the new American immigrant experience, a journey marked by militarized border zones, racist profiling, criminalization, and detention.
Fernandes argues that since 9/11 the Bush administration has been carrying out a series of systematic changes to decades-old immigration policy that simultaneously constitute a roll back of immigrant rights and a boon for a growing "Immigration Industrial Complex." She also documents the bullet-to-ballot strategy of white supremacist elements that have successfully infiltrated and influenced the writing of the country's immigration legislation.
Deepa Fernandes is a radio journalist for Pacifica Radio whose award-winning work has aired on the BBC World Service, and National Public Radio. Her writing has appeared in the Village Voice, In These Times and the New York Amsterdam News. Targeted, her first book, is the result of four years of research collecting narratives from immigrants as well as human rights groups and lawyers who are challenging the Bush administrations policies.
Customer Reviews:
Think of the implications.......2007-06-13
As a Mexican and a professional, I think this book is invaluable. Deepa Fernandes's level of understanding not only of the Mexican immigration phenomenon but of the crude and harrowing Mexican poors' reality is astonishing. Midwest Book Review states "Targeted will reach college-level holding". The U.S. should not let this book just freeze on colleges. This is a book to take action; immediate action.
Firstly, criminalizing otherwise innocent "non-citizens" (or non-citizens who have served time and purged any prior felony or crime), many of whom see themselves as Americans, is distorting the law and freedom of speech into crimes of hate and greed. Decent USAmericans (and I know they're majority) should think of the implications of the melting-pot being lost, the implications in science, technology and the arts, the implications on just accepting diversity, seeing the commonality instead of the differences.
Secondly, "Targeted" points out situations otherwise not though about by U.S. citizens. I used to think prison should be used to reform the prisoner when possible, or to keep them apart from society but in humane conditions. The privatization of the prison system is unconscionable. How will prison private owners, who think of the bottom line first, care or even want to know how to take care of other human beings in their prisons? This, to me, portrays the inequality and Class War by other means in U.S. system. As Greg Palast says: On one side there's the wealthy prison owners. On the other side there are the prisoners, often not sufficiently taken care of as guards are being kept scarce, and more than one has been stabbed by their charges.
Finally, Has anybody stopped to think seriously on the long-term implications? Why the rush in immigrant detainees (Black & Brown) deportations? Seems the rulers have everything planned. How do Blacks and Browns usually vote? It seems to me ACLU chapter and human-rights-for-immigrants groups in every U.S. state should Act Now to stop this disenfranchisement.
Why do I worry as a Mexican? Of course we Mexicans must be decent enough to create jobs for our jobless. However I think prolongation of the current U.S. unbalanced government will hurt us Mexicans still more than our people has been hurt to this date. It seems to me that factual, nor feigned, acceptance of diversity and the inherent legality of every human being must be accepted everywhere.
An excellent pick for any college-level survey.......2007-04-19
Targeted: Homeland Security and the Business of Immigration will reach college-level holdings and comes form an award-winning journalist and radio host who here examines the latest debates covering American border security. History, political and social analysis, and first-person narratives blend to cover not only known facts about immigrants and illegals, but reveals some shocking facts about corporate profits made during the business of Homeland Security. An excellent pick for any college-level survey of either immigrant or terrorism issues.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Authoritarian madness in the "land of the free".......2007-04-02
Deepa Fernandes has done this country a huge favor by exposing the business interests, and the nefarious ideology behind the crack-down on immigrants. Some prefer to call them "illegals," but to many, these undocumented people are family, friends, fellow Christians, essential workers, etc. Now these economic refugees of the catastrophe of neoliberal economics are becoming objects of revenue in the growing immigrant detention and deportation complex.
Fernandes provides all sorts of facts and stories that are informative, heart-breaking and infuriating. Some will avoid her, since they are so emotionally invested in the anti-immigrant rhetoric that has been drilled into our heads by politicians like Tom Tancredo, and countless right-wing radio hosts. Even progressive radio hosts, like Thom Hartmann, are calling for the punishment of US employers who hire undocumented workers. To cut off that source of income from Latin Americans, who have suffered under the boot of our corporate and military empire for generations, is unconscionable.
I was so pleased to hear Fernandes interviewed recently on "Radio Nation with Laura Flanders." She is so deserving of the publicity, and the American people are deserving of the truth of the lives of immigrants and those who are persecuting them - persecuting some of "the least among us." During Flanders' dialogue with Fernandes, someone called in and spoke of the "blowback" immigrants are experiencing due to their recent efforts to organize and pressure for their rights. Immigrants, or the citizen children of immigrants, who have marched or boycotted for immigration reform are finding ICE agents at their door.
At some point, especially if we experience another militant attack in retaliation to our state violence, those who are calling for these raids and detention centers may see this police state turned against their fellow citizens (just as the DEA currently throws countless lower class people into cages). I guess those who have been trained to accept, or who have a career in our system of crime and punishment, are always glad to see more spending going their way. Fortunately, there are those who do value freedom and decent relations with people from other countries. For them, "Targeted" is an invaluable resource.
A must-read for those who care about immigrants' rights.......2007-03-09
This book is well-researched and well-written. Fernandes is an investigative journalist, and thus does not give the deep, theoretical viewpoint of an academic. Nevertheless, this book really packs a punch and certainly opened my eyes to important realities. For example, a young Haitian man who came to the US when he was two was arrested for smoking a joint. After serving his 30 day sentence in the US, he was deported to Haiti, where, sadly, he will likely die in prison. This is just one of the many shocking stories Fernandes tells in her account, as she indicts US courts, policymakers, corporations, and the military for the humanitarian crisis that our current immigration policies cause.
Customer Reviews:
The Unraveling of the Bush Presidency.......2007-09-28
Well thought out and balanced regarding how inapropriatley Bush and his administration is marshalling the unique resources of the US and not in the best interests of the world. Among the most precious of these resources is the Values it stands for and the Goodwill it had earned over centuries.
The message is not an argument but a reasoned voice for what is just.
A short book yet not a "quick" read and well worth the time.
Read this review, it'll change your mind........2007-09-06
This is a work which propagates the ills or rather the chills of the Bush administration, meant to inform the readers what is going on, not a biblical study by any means, not sure what the past reviewer is thinking but perhaps I could refer him to A POWER GOVERNMENTS CANNOT SUPPRESS.
This is a pamphlet book, cheap and easy to access.
One has to remember that the sensationalistic media does not allow for much in the way of a large, overburdening text which will never be read.
This is a book of 48 pages! It could have been 1500!.......2007-08-29
This book recaps much of what we have already heard about "Dubya's" corrupt and incompetent administration. No theme was developed beyond a cursory brushover. But why should have Zinn regurgitated all that we already know in a long running tome? It would have been redundant. However, if you are inclined, buy this book and thirty years down the line, in 2037, give it to your grand kids so they might read a good summary of just how dangerous and disgraceful Bush's 8 years in office really were. Hopefully Zinn will have to write a postscript some day about the endless crimes for which many of Bush's lieutenants were jailed -and- hopefully Bush himself. For such a work I might stick around for another 30 years!
Amazon.com
The savvy, chatty author of The Courage of Their Convictions brings us a scholarly reckoning of the 200-plus years of decisions made by the highest court in the land. Not surprisingly (and justifiably, given his erudite arguments), Peter H. Irons represents the court's work as a never-ending appeal of the powerless to the powerful: of the just over 100 supreme justices who have sat on the court, all but two have been white, all but two have been men, and all but seven have been Christian, whereas the supplicants to our nation's highest bar are typically racial minorities, women, and deviants in some way from the religious and social mainstream.
Taking a representative (if not comprehensive) accounting of the Supreme Court's most significant decisions, Irons puts cultural and political context--and a human face--to the parties involved, painting an absorbing and involving picture of landmark cases that readers are likely to recall but not fully understand. Whether he's explicating the tortuous history of freedom-seeking slave Dred Scott or explaining the "a Jap's a Jap" reasoning behind the legal exculpation of World War II internment camps, Irons reminds us of the court's spotted history while still conveying the deep affection he has for it. (Includes a thoughtful appendix with the complete text of the Constitution and suggestions for further reading.) --Paul Hughes
Book Description
A major work of history, by a renowned legal scholar, chronicles an institution that affects the life of every American.
In the tradition of Howard Zinn's The People's History of the United States, Peter Irons brings to the history of our Supreme Court the "human touch" (San Diego Union) of the first-person stories of his own classic book The Courage of Their Convictions. This sweeping account of the Supreme Court traces its path from the Constitutional Convention of 1787 to its controversial rulings on free speech, racial segregation, abortion, and gay rights.
"When Peter Irons looks at an institution," says Kenneth Karst of UCLA Law School, "he sees the people who are its lifeblood." A People's History of the Supreme Court views that vital institution from both sides of the mahogany bench.
Irons provides sketches of every justice from John Jay to Stephen Breyer and portraits of such legal giants as John Marshall, Roger Taney, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Hugo Black, Earl Warren, and Thurgood Marshall. But the people who stand in the foreground of this vivid historical mural are ordinary Americans like Dred Scott, Homer Plessy, and Michael Hardwick. The cases they brought to the Supreme Court forced the justices to confront the Constitution's promise that every American deserves "the blessings of liberty." And in this fascinating work, Irons recounts the landmark decisions in which the Court both honored and broke that promise, in cases that span more than two centuries.
Customer Reviews:
A Difficult Read.......2007-04-17
I think that most of the reviewers of this book must be lawyers who are accustomed to over developed and complicated sentence structure. This is a writing technique well practiced by the legal profession and insurance policy writers.
Slogging through this book is just plain tortuous. It is very detailed and is probably a good book for pre-law or first year law students. Anyone else will find it to be painful.
The author is definitely a lefty but presents his viewpoints honestly and very well. The subject matter is fascinating but the execution is excruciating.
Interesting read.......2007-03-12
Although it drags a little at the beginning, once you get to the
history and the cases, it gets interesting. It's writtin in plain
english, except for the legal terms which are usually explained.
Someone not interested in the Supreme court probably would find
it rather boring, but then why would they be reading it? Author
writes with a pro-civil rights anti-business sentiment which
is most often justified (considering past civil rights abuses),
but it is not too overly done.
Just be ready for this slant on the cases (an opposing opinion
is not presented). All in all I enjoyed the book and think it is
well written.
Kudos.......2006-11-10
As a retired Judicial Officer I was very pleased with the presentation by Professor Irons. The book is written in a manner that regardless of your understanding of the law and Supreme Court decisions it will hold your interest. Since that reading I have bought his other books and even a course of his on DVD through The Teaching Company.
We are not only presented with crucial decisions but the reasons, good or bad, for that conclusion. This occurs with the additional reward of what social and poltical forces help shape these decisions.
The book is easily readible and extremely informative. I suggest this for those interested in quality writing, history, sociology and the law..
I wish this was required reading for all high school students.......
If you like others to think for you, this is your book!.......2006-11-04
Irons does a decent job of relating the history of the U.S. Supreme Court in an "easy to understand" manner. What this means is that he tries to paint a folksy picture of the people and issues surrounding the major court decisions of the past two centuries--he basically summarizes the major decisions, briefly explains why they're important, and then tells you his opinion and why it is correct. The book gives the reader nothing that your standard constitutional law reader does not--in fact, it gives less historical substance, compared with Kutler's book--but the appeal of this book is that it reads more like a novel and less like a history. Apparently some people like others to do their thinking for them. I do not, so I only found this book to be of minimal use. I wish that someone would have warned me about the book before I wasted my time on it, so hopefully I can prevent similar disappointment to someone else.
Good for history, bad for legal analysis.......2006-09-29
I give the author credit for explicitly revealing his biases in the book's opening pages. The author is a war protesting, left-leaning, liberal, and is a proponent of a "living Constitution" that conforms to his own ideas of a perfect society, rather than a view that treats the Constitution as a legal text. I strongly disagree with his views, but because he does not present his biases as fact, but instead openly warns the reader, I was able to continue reading.
The book's best feature is its compelling and detailed treatment of the Supreme Court's history. The author undoubtedly spent many hours parsing through obscure legal and historical materials to present the reader with a view of the factual circumstances surrounding the major legal developments of the past 200 years. As someone not very well-versed in American history, I appreciated the author's sensitive treatment of that subject.
Perhaps because of the author's biases, the first half of the book reads better than the latter half. I got the impression that I was reading a fairly objective account of the Constitution's framing and of the Civil War era. However, when discussing more recent developments, the author does not resist his urge to launch into juvenile tirades against those who have viewpoints diverse from his.
His legal analysis is generally flawed, and suffers from overt biases. He argues that it is a "dubious proposition" that the 14th amendment only applies to state action. This is strange, given that that amendment plainly states, "No *state* shall..." Scholars on both sides of the ideological debate understand that the 14th amendment was passed to bar only states from denying persons the equal protection of the law, but the author is not happy about that. Thus, he explodes into a meaningless rant about how anyone who thinks that that amendment is limited to state (as opposed to federal action as well) is a deceptive liar. As the book progresses to speak of the more controversial issues of the day, the author's biases speak louder and louder; I found myself skimming the last 150 pages, not trusting a single word that was coming out of his mouth.
That being said, I am quite happy that I read the book. It is not a great book, but it is well worth reading for its extensive historical analysis. And when the author does not launch into attacks against conservatives, he does add considerable insight to an important subject.
Three stars.
Amazon.com
Howard Zinn is famous primarily for A People's History of the United States, the book in which he presented alternative versions of American milestones, including Columbus's "discovery" of the New World. Voices of a People's History of the United States is the follow-up to that original landmark work, but where People's History contained Zinn's interpretations of events, Voices turns the platform over to others, in a collection of first-hand accounts, journal entries, speeches, personal letters, and published opinion pieces from the nation's history.
The purpose of Zinn's work, Voices included, is to engage in an act of political dissidence and activism. "What is common to all of these voices," Zinn and co-editor Anthony Arnove write in the book's introduction, "is that they have mostly been shut out of the orthodox histories, the major media, the standard textbooks, the controlled culture ... to create a passive citizenry." With Voices, Zinn and Arnove seek to address that malaise, showing that the impossible--slaves rising up against their slave masters, for example--is not only possible, but has occurred repeatedly throughout the country's history. "Whenever injustices have been remedied, wars halted, women and blacks and Native Americans given their due," they write, "it has been because 'unimportant' people spoke up, organized, protested, and brought democracy alive." The common thread throughout Voices is this mandate, and each selection is preceded by a brief introduction by the authors, written from a far-left perspective. (As an example, one section is titled "The Carter-Reagan-Bush Consensus.")
Voices often works better as a reference book than a sit-down-to-read title. Its early chapters--on Columbus, slavery, the War of Independence, and the early women's movement--tend to be more engaging than later excerpts, largely because a contrary point of view to mainstream mythology has been so rarely heard. The modern sections have a haphazard, "greatest hits of the left" feeling, as the book jumps from an Abbie Hoffman speech to the lyrics of Public Enemy's "Fight the Power." The problem may be inherent in the format of the book. Everything is treated equally, and a speech by Danny Glover is given as much weight as an excerpt from W.E.B. DuBois's The Souls of Black Folk. For context and background, it's best to stick with the original People's History, but to hear the words right from the speakers' mouths, there's no better resource than Voices. --Jennifer Buckendorff
Book Description
Here in their own words are Frederick Douglass, George Jackson, Chief Joseph, Martin Luther King Jr., Plough Jogger, Sacco and Vanzetti, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Mark Twain, and Malcolm X, to name just a few of the hundreds appearing in Voices of a People's History of the United States, edited by Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove. Paralleling the 24 chapters of Zinn's A People's History of the United States, Voices of a People's History is the long-awaited companion volume to the national bestseller.
For Voices, Zinn and Arnove have selected testimonies to living history-speeches, letters, poems, songs-left by the people who make history happen, but who usually are underrepresented or misrepresented in history books: women, Native Americans, workers, blacks and Latinos. Zinn has written short introductions to the texts, which themselves range in length from letters or poems of less than a page to entire speeches and essays that run several pages and longer. Voices of a People's History is a symphony of our nation's original voices, rich in ideas and actions, an embodiment of the power of civil disobedience and dissent, wherein lies our nation's true spirit of defiance and resilience.
Beloved historian and activist
Howard Zinn is the author of the best-selling A People's History of the United States and many other books, including The Zinn Reader (Seven Stories Press 2000), Artists in the Time of War (Seven Stories Press, 2003) and Terrorism and War (Seven Stories Press 2002).
Anthony Arnove is the editor of Terrorism and War by Howard Zinn, and Iraq Under Siege. An activist and regular contributor to ZNet, his writing has appeared in The Nation, The Financial Times and Mother Jones. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Customer Reviews:
Howard Zinn's quest.......2007-02-12
Anyone interested in history, academically or otherwise, should read Zinn's work since history is written by the winners, the best fighters, the most arrogant, sonmetimes, the most patient. It would be wise
for history teachers to present "the other side". I highly recommend his work.
You'll learn a few things.......2007-01-04
This account of the history of the US is taken from the "little people's" point of view. Very eye opening.
Incredible Resource.......2006-08-26
I am a high school history teacher and I use this in class. It has been extremely helpful especially combined with the free teacher's guide which you can find online. Each primary source is introduced with a brief background which provides some context.
A strong intellectual perturbation.......2006-02-15
History is sometimes written with the goal of documenting the attitudes or opinions of a particular class of people, such as the intellectuals, the politicians, the scientists, or the warriors. Each of these groups has made important contributions to human accomplishment, which should not be forgotten or discarded under the guise of some egalitarian or multicultural reading of history. But when the stories of these groups are documented in history, too often other voices are deafened, and these voices represent the vast majority of historical participants. It is not enough to view history through the eyes of intellectuals, politicians, or warriors. For an historical account to be meaningful, it must offer insight into the collaborations, opinions, belief structures, and longings of those who chose not to become famous, but instead chose to indulge themselves in the unique fascinations that each historical epoch possesses.
But because most humans throughout history did not record their experiences, the historian is left wanting for accurate appraisals of these experiences. Diaries, journals, and other personal writings can assist the historian in this regard, and there have been many uses of these throughout the historical literature. It is important to remember though that because of the paucity of these personal documents, one should not be too hasty in imputing the opinions of their authors to the entire population at the time. One cannot view them as representing the "voices of the people" without establishing this with (difficult) statistical analysis.
Sometimes however these documents were written more as a catharsis, as a way of expressing, in a strong and determined way, an idea, grievance, or opposition to the status quo. The opening quotation in the book by Frederick Douglass reinforces this view, for in that quotation Douglass essentially states that power must be challenged before it can be defeated (Douglass does not want to stop with mere words though, for in the same quotation he asserts the need for physical confrontation if necessary).
It is in this light that this book should be read. It is a collection of essays and letters that reveal attitudes that are not the typical ones that one would be exposed to in United States secondary schools. Those readers familiar with the author's earlier book on United States history will appreciate this book even more, but both can be read independently of each other. This is not a book that will please the elitist historian who discounts any view of history that does not magnify the contributions of intellectuals or military leaders over and above the "common" person. It is a book for those who are genuinely interested in the moods and aspirations of the people of a given time, if only from a limited vantage point. It will certainly upset the intellectual equilibrium of anyone who holds to a view of American history that has been sanitized by the educational establishment.
Simply terrific.......2005-11-20
Howard Zinn does a magnificent job bringing American history alive in this book. He tells history from a different point of view than most history books. History is shown from the point of view of people such as war protesters, civil rights activists, and even a Hiroshima survivor. I am a big fan of American history, and I can say I enjoyed this book as much as any one I have ever read on the subject. Whether the reader is conservative or liberal, he will enjoy this book.
Books:
- Pharmacotherapy
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- Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence
- Rip Van Winkle
General
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong
Voices of a People's History of the United States
The Twentieth Century: A People's History
Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance (American Empire Project)
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
