Rating: 
Summary: Quite An Education
Review: Well, I certainly learned a lot in reading this book that I was never taught in school. I can't say I agree with everything Professor Zinn has to say here, but it's sure a refeshing alternative to the narrow-minded approach of many U.S. histories. An important book to read in this (or any other) election year. Insprational Quote: "[Most history books] teach us that the supreme act of citizenship is to choose among saviors, by going into a voting booth every four years to choose between two white and well-off Anglo-Saxon males of inoffensive personality and orthodox opinions."
Rating: 
Summary: Don't Bother with this one
Review: This book is is nothing more than a recounting of all the dark moments in American History. These moments need to be documented and remembered, but not told all together in one breath as Zinn has presented. He seems to take pride in exposing all the ugly horrible things that have happened in our history and not presenting suppporting evidence for the contrary. There is a brief section on the Vietnam War which seems to be more impartially documented, but the rest is a witch hunt for negativism in AMerican History. To clearly understand the issues he writes about, I stongly advise reading other books focued on each subject-- for instance, A Womens History of the United States, A History of Black America, the sad tale of the Real Americans etc. I honestly believe that Zinn has presented these issues in a way that will blurr proper understanding of these sad characteristics of American History
Rating: 
Summary: A dated history of America
Review: A friend recommended this to me during a conversation on the roots of poverty in the United States. I have read it diligently, but without a lot of enthusiasm. The book is very dated--a classic example of 60's radical thinking. Zinn is highly selective: he keeps twisting the evidence to fit his agenda. In many places he is simply a poor scholar. He has his facts wrong or fails to provide base-line data and necessary context. His passion is very 60's, too: Indignation and self-righteousness triumphing over reality. However, if you can get past his dated paradigm, part of his message is very important: greed, selfishness, competition for power and concentration of wealth are dangerous features of our public culture and history. Today, corporate executives, media moguls, land developers, oil men, athletes, and bankers (among others) still try to use the government to secure their privilege and fortunes against the interests of the majority. I find that Zinn's book fails the critical test that faces any historian: Will this historian's construction of the past help us account for the present, learn from our mistakes and adapt our behavior? For 40 years, Zinn's reading of history and its opposite, the America of Ronald Reagan, have informed life in America. Some things are better--the opportunities for minorities, for example--but overall the differences between rich and poor have only gotten worse, violence has increased and quality of life has decreased. Personally, I think it is time to come up with new explanations. I think this book is a good read for high school students, as long as it is balanced with better history, but it is primarily interesting now as a historical document.
Rating: 
Summary: The classic revisionist history book in the United States
Review: Zinn in this book essentially writes the classic revisionist history book of the United States. Barring the WASP-y majority (soon to be gone!), Zinn spends the whole of this texts illustrating the plight of blacks, women, american natives, and others. For this, he was even mentioned in Good Will Hunting.... This is the paradigmatic exemplar of one of the more controversial issues in the US: do we essentially rewrite our history-- going away from one that was rife with incompletions toward one that lacks the manifest-destined nation on a hill mentality that has marked the US for the whole of its history? Is denying the American identity a necessity such that we can allow individuals to grow and the nation to change? I recommend this book wholeheartedly to anyone who is curious about the lies and half-truthes that we have partaken in the US secondary education AND to any person who desires to stare revisionist education in its face.
Rating:
Summary: An Alternative, Non-traditional Narrative of America
Review: Zinn writes a sometimes pessimistic view of American history. His focus is on the non-traditional form of reporting America's past. His viewpoint is essential to historians. His view of history is a reminder of the form of history taught in many liberal arts programs during the turbulent late 60s and early 70s by dissident professors. It's justified, if for no other reason, than its focus. It reads rapidly, passing through the country's history in less than 700 pages. Look carefully for reporting which needs additional research on the reader's part. Overall, a good read.
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Summary: Honest History for once
Review: It's been said again and again that History is written by the conquerors. For once, someone tells you of the conquered. It's not a Why you should hate america history lesson, though-- our authorlooks at both sides of the coin, which for us americans who are constantly just shown a well shined heads, it's a refreshing and excellent read. Unlike so many history books, it's not just a chronicle of events, it includes the ideas and possibilities, and well, the Lives behind the events. This is the history we should be teaching in our schools-- we should trust american citizens with a closer vision of our history instead of that constant nationalist parade that takes place in our classrooms. (also, Lies My Teacher Told Me is excellent) If you've ever had the least interest in history, this is defintely one you should not put off.
Rating:
Summary: Thank You Good Will Hunting
Review: finally, someone had the good sense to write a history book about america, that doesnt reek of patriotic pablum...i read this book three months ago, on the advice of who else, matt damon...i was watching good will hunting in a hotel room in seattle, when i saw the scene where he tells robin williams,if you want to read a real hisory book read a people's history of the united states by howard zinn... it knocked my socks off alright! here is real history, straight, no chaser...the white men in this book arent heroes coming along to save the day. The marginalized get their voice and how...america was a country built on the backs of the disenfranchised and zinn points that out... columbus is shown for the murdering scavenger he is...big business built america at the expense of the poor and zinn shows us how they did it...with high-octane prose that zings from line to line... the best chapters in the book besides the opening chapter on colombus' arrival to the new world, are the chapters that focus on the labor movement,and the vietnam war . by letting the voices of the working class speak, zinn shows the real america. conservatives will hate this book to no end, because zinn has taken the mask off the lies history professors have taught students about the Good old U.S.A, as a radical liberal, i encourage all free thinkers to try this book, if they are jaded with the usual banal tomes' they get in the classroom...this book was 10 years in the making and it shows. a movie based on the book is coming soon, hopefully matt and his best bud ben affleck will be in it, maybe robin too??
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Summary: This book will widen your eyes
Review: I can remember sitting in elementary and high school history classes spending a great deal of time learning about the following: * "Explorers" as great men that mapped the way for the destinies of Spanish, French, and English men. Of all explorers, 2 (Coronado and Pizzaro) were described to me as having "bad tempers" and killing a few indians for gold. * Russia, the worst country in the world. America was the "greatest" country in the world and acted to protect the world from the red. Russians were all vodka drinking, steriod using, boxers (ALA Rocky 4), and wanted to take over the world, particularly the US. * Indians were "moved" from their land, with no mention of the destruction of their culture (I feel guilty just sitting on this land). * Morgan, Rockefeller, Carneige, were geniuses that made the US a global economic power. They built many wonderful institutions of higher learning to help the hungry people. * Strikes are bad things that greedy, lazy, people do. * American troops accidentally "discovered" the concentration camps and we had no previous knowledge of their existence. * When James Madison wrote "We the People..." he meant everyone. * Abraham Lincoln was the hero of the Civil War and worked tirelessly for slaves' freedom. * Lewis & Clark, The War of 1812, The California Gold Rush, and The Civil War were the only 4 things that happened in the 19th century. * World War I, the League of Nations, The New Deal, and WW2 were the only things that happened in the first half of this century. While Vietnam and Civil Rights were the only things that have happened since. "People's History" will change this kind of history that I was exposed to during my first 12 years in education. Shame on those teachers for not presenting the plight of 90% of the people, and shame on me for not realizing on my own.
Rating:
Summary: Best History book ever
Review: Just like Will Hunting says "It'll knock yer socks off." And coming from a creative (film) background, alot of these stories deserve to be told because they are so human. But I know for a fact because of reasons of race, class, gender, sexual identity, and nationality these things go unheard of. Buy it just for the author's note at the end. Even if you disagree with the politics, it is great to hear stories of normal people that I'm betting you've never heard before. My personal favorite is the Native American who wrote Bill Clinton about the REAL genocide that had taken place in our history.
Rating:
Summary: The best history book ever.
Review: If you have to chose one history book to read, this should be it. It has changed my life. I'm no longer confused about motives of big companies. I no longer think that history is the result of the artifices of a bunch of ugly white presidents and corporate villains. I no longer feel I need to vote when it seems so hopelessly out of my control. Not voting, it turns out is voting. It means I don't get it. But I do get Howard Zinn's book. And though its divided in chapters it should be read as a whole and as a novel because the layers that build up paint the picture that Howard Zinn has devoted a lifetime to painting. By the way, the book could also be considered a lab book for anyone who has a chance to see Howard Zinn live. The book is written with a the drier edge of a history book. Live, Howard Zinn (well over seventy years old now) is one part historian and two parts commedian. Here in California, his live shows sell out. Put this book on your bookshelf after you read it. Its better than voting.
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