Rating: 
Summary: An Unforgettable Trek Through American Mentality
Review: "Declarations of Independence" should be required reading at every high school in America. The focus of this work is on the plethora of facts and events that never reach the minds of school children. It thankfully takes a swing at everything we as Americans take for granted. This book will be of great use to anyone who has ever asked of the "American system", "Why does it have to be that way?" and has gotten the answer, "Because that is the way it has always been." Zinn illuminates the social and economic struggles of the common man, woman, and child that are all too often overlooked in textbooks that strive for a glowing and idealistic reckoning over the darker, more realistic truth. In a challenging piece of reading, Zinn takes us on a journey through the common myths and misconceptions of American ideology and begs us to stop seeing the status quo as unalterable. This is a first-class book that deserves to be read by everyone calling themselves "Americans".
Rating:
Summary: Let Howard Zinn shake out the cobwebs and open your eyes
Review: "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.
Rating: 
Summary: Revolutionary without a revolution...yet
Review: A SPECTRE IS HAUNTING ACADEMIA... This is a modern Communist Manifesto. It takes Zinn quite a few pages in the book to get you to feel shameful about your country, then he proposes how to throw a revolution. If you read the actual Communist Manifesto you know that to topple a country you first have to try to rewrite its history, cause the people to lose their patriotism, then present the vehicle for causing the revolution. Zinn has written other books on history, and on challenging the American ideology, sticking right to the pattern. This book of his is part of the "challenging patriotism" stage. All you who wrote that this book is enlightening, or if you agree with that, you have been totally duped by efforts to destroy the country. You are ill-informed and ignorant about history, economics, law and justice, and human nature. Those of you with kids in college, watch out for Professor Zinn. Sadly he is not alone is his beliefs or in influence in schools. It is not surprising that so many Communist sympathizers end up as teachers, because they can't support themselves anywhere else, and no one will listen to them anywhere else. If you think I am extreme in calling him a Communist, see for yourself. Notice how the quotes get more direct as you move through the book. ---On Law and Justice (fight the unjust system): "Obeying the law against murder seems absolutely right. To really obey that law, you should refuse to obey the law that sends you to war." p.108 "Are we not more obligated to achieve justice than to obey the law?" p109 "The courtroom, one of the supposed bastions of democracy, is essentially a tyranny. The judge is monarch. He is in control of the evidence, the witnesses, the questions, and the interpretation of law...Free speech in the courtroom does not exist, because the judge decides what can and cannot be said." p135 ---On economics (our economic system is unjust): "Where is the justice of a society that has such extremes of luxury for some, misery for others?" p148 "To say that people have an equal right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, means that if, in fact, there is inequality in those things, society has a responsibility to correct the situation and to ensure that equality." p151 "Why does the producer of jeweled dog collars deserve a hundred times as much as the producer of a single poem?...Is the skilled machinist who is unemployed as a result of a layoff any less skilled than the one who is left on? There are large numbers of artists...who have loads of talent but...cannot make a living" p159 "In short, there is no logical relationship between talent and money. Surely, all human beings deserve the fundamental requirements for living - housing, food, medical care, and education - regardless of their talents. Think of children, whose talents are not yet evident: are they to get food and medical care on the basis of their parents' talents? Is that fair?" p160 "In short, the capacity of human beings to give their talents, their energies, and their all, not on the basis of monetary reward, but on the basis of some larger collective purpose, has been demonstrated again and again. The fact is encouraging to the idea of an equal distribution of wealth." p161-162 "Farmers work hard and the market pays them so little they desperately need government help to survive." p164 "Most people who work for a living have zero or limited choice of their employers." p167 "...it is not easy to move capital from one enterprise to another." p168 "If doctors who now make $1000,000 a year would only make $60,000 a year, would the quality of their work get worse? Surely doctors do their best because of the motivation that brought them into medicine in the first place - the enormous satisfaction in making people well. Those who entered the profession to become rich are probably not the best in their field." p168 "...every kind of work, however unskilled or however unwanted by "the market" (I am thinking of dishwashers, janitors, poets, painters, musicians, actors, and housewives among others) should be paid close to the average wage of working people in the country." p174 "At some point the planning would need to be global, because it is impossible to confine economic justice within national boundaries." p175 ---On changing the government (our system of government is flawed): "If we are going to make the radical changes to produce a situation we can call economic justice...People will have to organize and struggle, to protest, to strike, to boycott, to engage in politics, to go outside of politics and engage in civil disobedience, to act out...the equalization of wealth. Only when wealth is equalized (at least roughly) will liberty be equalized. And only then will justice be possible in this country." p181 "The very principle of representation is flawed." p254 "What attracted me to anarchism was its rejection of any bullying authority - the authority of the state, of the church, or of the employer. Anarchism believes that if we can create an egalitarian society without extremes of poverty and wealth and join hands across all national boundaries, we will not need police forces, prisons, armies, or war, because the underlying causes of these will be gone. " p275 "The coming of a new century...may be a time to welcome thinking outside the customary boundaries; to look with fresh eyes at communism, socialism, capitalism, liberalism, and anarchism; and to seek out good ideas wherever they are, because we desperately need them." p277 "Surely nations must defend themselves against attack, citizens must resist and remove oppressive regimes, the poor must rebel against their poverty and redistribute the wealth of the rich. But that must be done without the violence of war." p289
Rating:
Summary: An essential manual for understanding the world
Review: Declarations of Independence is one of those few books with the power to change your life and blow your mind if you read it at the right time. There is no better introduction to modern progressive philosophy. When I stumbled on the book (soon after it first came out in 1990, in the midst of the Gulf War), I was in high school and trying to figure out some way of understanding the world beyond myself, and this was the book that helped me begin exploring. I found the insights so fresh, exciting, and provocative that I devoured the book in a few days, then returned to read it again and more carefully. I have returned to it many times since, and with every reading I am amazed at the clarity of Zinn's writing and the common sense and great decency which fills his thinking. Declarations of Independence seeks to uncover the motives and hypocrisies in many of the ideas Americans take for granted. As a historian and the reknowned author of A People's History of the United States, Zinn is in a position to offer an incisive perspective on our present from someone who understands so much of our past. In one elegant chapter after another, Zinn meditates on American foreign policy, violence and human nature, law and justice, the American class system, just and unjust war, Communism and anti-Communism, and, of course, the use and abuse of history. In many ways, this is a broader and even more accessible book than A People's History of the United States, and just as necessary for anyone concerned with thinking their own thoughts and living a humane life.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: Extraordinary work on the American Political ideology! This book remarkably discusses the American ideology and its roots. This book serves as a critical analysis of the way in which American presidents have conducted not only their domestic policy but foreign policy as well. What I liked the most in this text was the discourse on the Law, Justice and the justification of the disobedience to unjust laws. After reading this book one realizes the extent of freedom in this country and how its more of a myth in practical terms- until we do something about it now. One most important thing I would like to mention about Dr. Zinn is that he has not taken sides on any issue. He has simply laid in front of us the facts and has given us the opportunity to judge/assess for ourselves. A great work indeed. I strongly recommend this book to be read by anybody who is an admirer of justice regardless of where he or she is from.
Rating:
Summary: A unique look at American history
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Zinn wants us to live in a better world
Review: Howard Zinn will never be a mainstream policy wonk. He is a maverick and proud of it. In a nutshell, Zinn wants a government that represents the interests of the majority...not a select few. Moreover, he dares the reader to challenge conventional wisdom and examine events through his special prism. "The struggle for justice should never be abandoned on the ground that it is hopeless," the author nobly argues. It is a major theme in chapters one through eleven of his book. Overall the author points a lot of fingers at our leaders for promoting aggression in foreign policy. In my opinion, Zinn's "cross-examination" of American idelology is a good book to read during our 4th of July holiday.
Rating:
Summary: Zinn wants us to live in a better world
Review: Howard Zinn will never be a mainstream policy wonk. He is a maverick and proud of it. In a nutshell, Zinn wants a government that represents the interests of the majority...not a select few. Moreover, he dares the reader to challenge conventional wisdom and examine events through his special prism. "The struggle for justice should never be abandoned on the ground that it is hopeless," the author nobly argues. It is a major theme in chapters one through eleven of his book. Overall the author points a lot of fingers at our leaders for promoting aggression in foreign policy. In my opinion, Zinn's "cross-examination" of American idelology is a good book to read during our 4th of July holiday.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting But Lacking Depth
Review: I enjoyed this book to a certain degree. Zinn covers a wide-range of topics and presents some interesting historical perspective and alternative viewpoints to many of today's important issues. However, I did not feel like I learned very much. The book is basically an introduction to many areas of progressive politics, so it would not be very helpful to someone who is already familiar with this topic.
Rating:
Summary: Very impressive. :)
Review: 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.
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