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Summary: The Untold History of the United States
Review: Wow! The only word to really describe this treasure of American history. Dr. Zinn has done a masterful job with this book. There is not another book on the market today that better captures the untold stories of the thousands of people who have disappeared or are vaguely spoken of in American textbooks. "A People's History of the United States" should be required reading for every high school student.
Rating: 
Summary: Eye-opening
Review: Zinn's book presents in succinct and eminently readable form the often overlooked dark side of American history. Most valuable of all is his extensive coverage of the labor movement and workers' struggles. Also worth noting is his careful detail to the role of women in society and their often parallel struggles with men. Nor does Zinn whitewash the oppressed as some revisionist writers do; he knows that the oppressed often become the oppressor, and he does not hesitate to cite the many examples of racism among union leaders, sexism among civil rights leaders, and the co-opting of popular struggles by elite elements in society. The book isn't a direct history in that it doesn't chronicle events directly. Rather, it is clearly intended to form a supplement to orthodox views of history. Every historical event, especially those shrouded in patriotic pride in the orthodox view, is here presented in an often completely different light. The book does have one flaw: cynicism. Nearly every achievement in US history, including the Bill of Rights, the abolition of slavery, and the New Deal, is dismissed as a reluctant and often empty concession rather than a genuine step forward. Repeatedly Zinn argues that electoral politics is totally ineffective in achieving social justice, advocating instead a not-totally-defined "direct struggle" (although most of the direct struggles he writes about were brutally put down). When discussing the 1960s civil rights movement, his sympathies are clearly more with Malcolm X's more militant approach than Martin Luther King's nonviolence. (Interestingly, he doesn't mention how Malcolm X moved towards King's position after his pilgrimage to Mecca, nor does he have much to say on X's assassination.) It would also have been nice to see a longer two-volume work, providing more room to the long series of wars and betrayals against aboriginals, and elaborating more on the darker side of U.S. foreign policy in the 20th century. Nonetheless, this is a definitive and comprehensive alternative view of history that should be required reading for every nationalist.
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Summary: The Land of the Free?
Review: Howard Zinn paints a shocking portrait of the social injustices that take place within our own government. It talks of the threat of global imperialism and capitalism by intricately piecing together stories and quotes from minority groups such as Native Americans, Africans Americans, and Japanese, among others. Some argue that Zinn's approach to American history seems to be one-sided and overly biased. While this may be true to an extent, a one-sided approach is needed to counterattack the absolute positive approach to our government as displayed in most text books. Zinn tells a very different story of America through the eyes of the people that make up the majority of the country, but have little say in the current government. The surface of slavery is touched lightly in the American educational system, but little is taught about the atrocities faced by actual slaves. This is, in my opinion, due to a majority of caucasions in government positions. Zinn, however, holds nothing back. One example of this that leaves a lasting impression in my mind is a quote by a slave trader reporting on the condition of the people on a slave ship. "I saw pregnant women give birth to babies while chained to corpses which our drunken overseers had not removed....packed spoon-fashion they often gave birth to children in the scalding perspiration from the human cargo..." This gives a sickening image of the conditions of slavery, and shows that we, as a nation, are still in denial of racial wrongs even today. The book also advocates the rights of the many instead of the priveleged few. I thought the chapter "The Empire and the People" was interesting in how it revealed major hipocracies in the beliefs that America is the "defender of the free world." It shows another side, one of imperialistic nature. A lot of wars that the United States try to make out as fights for freedom, seem, as Zinn looks deeper into the politics behind them, to be wars fought to secure business markets in other countries and to keep our "moneyed interests" happy. The book also states several instances in which our country has advocated the overthrow of a prosperous democracy by a totalitarian regime in order to open the door to american markets. This is hipocracy at its finest. These are just two of the hundreds of controversial and important issues brought up throughout the book. The main themes are greed, power, and corruption as well as the victimization of the lower classes in a capitalistic society. Overall, this book tells the stories of many americans that don't have the power to tell it themselves in a way that should be intriguing and educational to the reader. It tells of a very different america than most of us have come to know through high school history and government classes, and shows us that even the government in the "greatest country in the world" has its flaws.
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Summary: Where was this when I was in school?
Review: Author Howard Zinn has compiled a History of the United States that is as fascinating as any novel I have ever read. My intention was to research particular areas of interest, but once I began reading Chapter One, I didn't stop until the last page. Finally, I was able to find answers within the context of history that explained the circumstances that shaped this country. Written from the point of view of the common man, this isn't just a stale recording of dates and facts. Howard Zinn breathes into the dusty corridors of the past and gives them life. The intricate tapestry of the development of the United States, its principles, flaws, attemps at greatness- all are there for the interested reader to understand. Not only has my personal knowledge been enriched by this compelling book, but I bought a copy for my son. We have since enjoyed many spirited discussions thanks to Mr. Zinn. This history is complete, concise and full of pertinent detail.
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Summary: Zinn's Book is MIND BLOWING....
Review: I would like to comment on the ratings of this book. I am a college student in Boston and Howard Zinn is not unknown as a commentor from Hayway, CA says. A People's History of the United States of America will BLOW YOUR MIND away. I am sure that a good number of "American Citizens" will not enjoy what Howard Zinn has to say but these people should realize that America is a great country but it comes with certain flaws. Not only does Zinn share what these flaws our but he also lets the America Citizen know what the American Society has left out of its own history. I would highly recommend Zinn's book to anyone who is interested in American History. This is the only history book that I have picked up for a college class, sat and read through, and was finished in a few days. So to all history lovers, or anyone interested in America, should definitly read this book. Zinn wanted this book to be available to everyone and that is why its fairly cheap. So take my advice and BUY IT.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Really History, But Provocative
Review: Silly effort to preach to the pc crowd leaves a lot to be desired as history. This may, however, encourage readers to seek out actual historians and scholarly works. Not a total waste of a serious reader's time, but hardly worth more than a quick glance. I was not surprised that on a C-SPAN history roundtable, not one writer or historian (not even Gore Vidal) had heard of this Zinn when an audience member mentioned him.
Rating:
Summary: Greatest Asset: It's Enjoyable
Review: Howard Zinn's encyclopedia of knowledge is in no way bland. Rather, he's uses cunning story telling to bring what is normally a dull subject into an exciting and sometimes horrifying reality. Speaking from the viewpoint of the minority, Zinn picks up where history class left off. He forces us to question our past and present actions. Unearthing subjects never questioned, Zinn asks those tough questions. His chapters dealing with Native Americans and Blacks in the early Americas are my favorite chapters. Empowering the minority, Zinn sends two messages. Can progress still be justified if it is an the expense of others? And, Is our nation's history our own history.
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Summary: Definitive account of American holocaust
Review: When educated people's attempt to ascertain which political system has persecuted the most people's, they mechanically answer Nazi Germany, or some, even mention Soviet Russia(which was really Stalinist Russia, any idea of a "Soviet" Russia died with the deportation of Trotsky in 1929). For proof, they point out the persecution of religious sects(Jews, in Germany and Russia), and entire classes(the Kulak in Russia, which was such a loose term, the title "Kulak" could pertain to anybody!). But these supposedly educated person's, overlook the history of the United States. The opening chapter of Zinn's history, describes a virtual utopia, a classless society, of Native Americans, in what is now described as the "West Indies". These harmless, and by the standards of 15th century Europe, barbaric people, never developed any of the amenitie's of Europe, such as "property", or "currency", essentially, they were what Lenin and Marx would describe as "Socialists". Next, Zinn describes the arrival of a person, Christopher Columbus, who upon seeing this classless society, and seeing how harmless they were, thought of one purpose for them, "Slave Labour"! As opposed to developing diplomatic relations with these people's, Columbus massacred them by the thousands, for his capitalistic greed, and of course, the glory of the "Monarchy". This American holocaust(an American Holocaust which goes on to this day!) was within "twenty years" of the arrival of Western Europeans into the "New World". Obviously, the American Revolution never occured until 1776, but Columbus began a trend, that didn't stop until perhaps the late 1970's(and if a person takes the cases of Mumia Abu-Jamal and Leonard Peltier into consideration, it's still going on), this trend is the "persecution" of minorities on the North American continent. Zinn writes how the US government introduced "Biological Warfare", in the form of blankets, presented as gifts to Native Americans, that were contaminated with "Small Pox". Zinn describes the persecution of Negroe Slaves, which number in the millions. Zinn describes the numerous broken treaties between the US government, and Native Americans(although I'm partially Native American, I don't let this fact obstuct my opinion, Trotsky was Jewish by origin, yet, never intervened on their part), such as the seizure of the Black Hills in the 1800's, the seizure of Reservation lands that, "GASP", has some value, such as the Colville reservation in north-central Washington, and the recent attempt by Washington State Republicans to eliminate Native American soverignty by "force"! Obviously, Zinn doesn't stop at the oppresed Native Americans, and African Americans, he also describes the Asian American "concentration camps" set up as recently as fifty years ago during World War Two! For the sake of acceptance from the supposedly "liberal" media, Zinn probably holds back a little when describing America's history, I am absolutely certain that the history of the US, is infinitely more atrocious and despicable than what he describes. To escape the hypocrisy, and bankruptcy, of American intellectualism, a person "must" read this book. The media, and prominent intellectuals, renounce individuals who "deny" the "Nazi" and "Soviet" holocausts, but one must ask(once they understand American history)"why aren't individuals who deny the American holocaust, which surpasses the German and Russian holocausts exponentially, scrutinized?" An example of an American holocaust "denier", is a person who says, "I don't feel guilty about the fact my ancestors annihlated entire races, or about the slavery of African Americans, because a previous administration "apoligised" for it". Once a person reads this book, they will feel disgusted about the "hidden" American history, that their reactionary professors and teachers never told them about. I couldn't possibly recommend any other book on the market above this one, I give it 10 stars, as opposed to 5.
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Summary: So you think you know US history?
Review: Howard Zinn, social activist and History professor, has interwoven his two passions into a work that has been heralded as either the canon for revisionism or the Rosetta Stone of American History. I feel it falls under the later. Most history books give you the history of the upper class, the politics, and the wars. What is left out is the social history of the time. Zinn begins the book with the Columbus's "discovery" of America. Instead of "1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue" tale, he paints a very different one, one of the native people who greet him with open arms only to be savagely oppressed and then mercilessly assimilated. Every era he covers in the book, most people will have a general understanding of; however, he does not reiterate you high school text. He tells you how the other half lived. He tells the story of a people who could not speak for themselves, who did not get their story published in textbooks because, truthfully, the truth is not always pretty. American Indians, African Americans, women, socialists, the poor and under-educated are all part of the American fabric and unlike your traditional history text, Howard Zinn gives them a voice. Coupling this book with what you probably already know about American history will give you a more well-rounded education. By reading his work, I hope you come to think more critically about our history.
Rating: 
Summary: Dangerously Manipulative to the Uninformed
Review: A reader must be very discerning with this review of American history. Though he presents many facts and events worth knowing about for their informational value, Howard Zinn is overtly naive and socialistic in his approach. Deliberately twisting the truth, as Zinn repeatedly accuses other historians and the US government of doing, he uses a stockpile of out-of-context and biased evidence to support his overly-sympathetic views. Though worth reading for its historical insight, a reader must be wary of Zinn's unctuous appeal to their emotional sense of injustice and, as with all history books, not believe everything to which he so glibly makes claim. In addition to this, I wish to add a personal comment. There is no such thing as "neighborly socialism" and by claiming so, Howard Zinn shows a profound misunderstanding of socialism, its ideals and its inevitable results.
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