Rating: 
Summary: tendentious
Review: Highly readable, though I can't exactly say I liked it. Properly, however, it should have been titled, "The Ugly History of America," because that's basically what it is. It will bear its best fruit only after you have negotiated a more traditional approach. Because if you are planning to use this book to refresh a rusty familiarity with American history, you're going to be left with a disastrously skewered view of things. Specifically, Zinn provides a much more accurate understanding of who was being massacred and how, than an understanding of precisely what was going on politically. Let's take an example that occurs early in the book, the Virginia settlers. Who were they? Where had they come from? What were they like? What was their form of government, and how did it get that way? All of this takes a back seat to how cruelly they treated the Indians and the lurid story of how they had to eat each other's corpses back in 1610. Heck, "back seat" is putting it generously: all that other stuff isn't even covered. So my advice is: first, learn the party line from someone like Paul Johnson or Tindall & Shi, THEN come to this book and you will be spellbound. I can't resist another comment: Everybody seems fond of remarking how Zinn's strategy of retelling history primarily from the perspective of the oppressed and mistreated poor is not done often, even among exceptional historical minds. I would suggest, however, that there's a reason this is not done often. Imagine reading a history of the Lewis-and-Clark expedition from the point of view of the shoes they wore. What the hey? Sure, those shoes were important, those shoes saw a lot of use, the whole thing wouldn't have happened without those shoes, but ultimately, there's not a whole lot of substance you can say about shoes being worn into the ground. I feel the same way about the downtrodden, much-abused masses Zinn writes about: there wasn't really much going on in their lives save wholesale misery and suffering. Why are the details important? Nevertheless, I consider this an important and necessary book (albeit a supplementary one).
Rating:
Summary: Zinn vs. Patriotic Education System
Review: If only my History book was as good as this... This text accomplishes exactly what Zinn aspired, telling an alternate view to the history that we have learned in school. I have been reading it over the course of the school year, in conjunction with my required text, and am amazed at the truths boldly told in Zinn's book that are only fluffed over in the school books. He presents the negative to every "acheviement" in the country. To any History student- buy and read this book. Quote it on essays. Get in arguments with your teacher. Challenge the system- your grades will suffer, but isn't it worth it?
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Summary: A teacher of American History's POV
Review: For several years of the last decade, I taught Advanced Placement U.S. History at a high school in northern Virginia. When I began the course, Zinn had already been assigned by my predecessor, and I needed a counterpoint to the main text (Bailey and Kennedy's bombastic, traditionalist, and short-on-social history "Pageant of the American Nation"). Zinn's deftly written book provided a fortunate antithesis to the "march of presidents and industrial titans" approach to American history. I found many chapters of this book to be such excellent stimulants to class discussions that I extended their use into my non-AP U.S. history classes, where students, many of whom could not otherwise have cared less about history, found themselves reading an interesting and provocative historian for the first time in their lives. Many of the best discussions I ever had with my classes (both AP and "regular") began with assigned chapters from Zinn. From there, it was an easy step to move on to the idea of historiography (the history of how history has been interpreted) and to decoupling my students from thinking of the textbook as revealed wisdom. Yes, this book has its faults, as many of the previous reviews point out. It is very left-leaning. It does sometimes omit factual points that do not support its line of argument. It does sometimes verge on equating the misdeeds of American leaders with the horrific malevolence of the leaders of totalitarian states. It does romanticize its heroes. For all that, though, this book is an excellent introduction to U.S. history if read as a contrasting voice to more traditional narratives. It is a fine and vigorous antidote to the excessively reverent tone of many high school textbooks. It conveys a sense of moral passion that is often lacking in these texts, which are typically take great pains to offend no one, particularly regarding events within living memory. Not all contemporary texts are this bloodlessly terrible, but many are. One of the best things about Zinn's histories is that he leaves in the drama that the standard texts insist on draining out. "A People's History" begins with a bold thesis, and keeps it at center stage--namely, that those with power and wealth consistently extend it to others only when the situation has reached the level of deep crisis, and only with the minimum and uppermost fraction of the discontended needed to co-opt them and defeat the dissent of the remainder, often also turning otherwise natural allies into antagonistic contenders for "table scraps" from the banquet in the process. And as Zinn argues repeatedly, this grudging and incomplete inclusion, made reality by the courage and convictions of average men and women, has been the engine that has driven most if not all extentions of both liberty and equality in U.S. history, and that this is a continuing and unfinished process, awaiting future generations of idealists possessing the courage of their own convictions. I admire this book (and this author) for inculcating this idea among young readers. For young adults who have an interest in U.S. history, or for parents who wish to engage their teen's interest in history, this book is a great place to start. It also might be the start of a few conversations at home about justice, fairness, equality, morality, the probity of leaders, etc. Since it argues more from a passion for justice and equality, a sense of burning indignation, and a highly debatable point of view, those desiring balance should pair it with something less withering in its assessment toward the history of the American state. This is an excellent history for the newly interested, or for those readers looking for an alternative perspective.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh, come on!
Review: Look, it'a a book, not a gospel. Whether a reviewer agrees or not with the author is besides the point. This book is a good read that gives an important perspective. It should not be the only book you read about American history, but it should be ONE of them. Why? It's the most accessable book of its kind. Go read Paul Johnson's HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE after this (or before) and you may find an ability to take in differing opinions and think for yourself.
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Summary: Not perfect, but a Great Effort
Review: There is no such thing as an unbiased history book. Any historian is telling history from a perspective. We have plenty of history books written from the perspective of the top dogs. We need more books that tell it from the perspective of the underdogs. Each of us is responsible for examining the facts and reaching our own conclusions. I have a low regard for people not willing to do so. I don't agree with everything this fellow says or even the way he says it, but I consider him a brave man trying to fill some important gaps. I do not think he did a good job of discussing Abraham Lincoln. To me, he seems to suggest Lincoln was not radical enough. The problem with that notion is that if Lincoln had been any more outspoken before the war, he would never have become President. He was already considered so radical that the South seceded over his election and many Northerners hated his guts. It was only after years of hard war that the North was prepared to think of the war as one to end slavery. I also found a factual error related to his coverage of the Civil War. Fort Pillow was in Tennessee, not Kentucky! It shocks me that an error like this was in the 20th anniversary edition. Has no else noticed this in 20 years? Shame! I also disagree with the idea that sanctions might have gotten Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. I doubt that very seriously. The real question is whether you or I should have been willing to lay down our lives to save the Kingdom of Kuwait. Unlike most armchair patriots, my answer is "Hell no!" Let the Arabs fight their own damn battles. The bottom line is that I got a lot out of reading this book even though I disagree with parts of it.
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Summary: A Great Book - Just like "Goodwill Hunting" Said It Would Be
Review: I ordered this book for a friend who heard about it in the movie "GOOD WILL HUNTING" And it is a great book! Howard Zinn is a great historian of our times. If you're looking for someone who is a good writer, well spoken, and truly one of the best books to read this is it.
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Summary: The most informative book on american history
Review: You only need one book on American Hisotry and this is it. This book will blow your mind. You want the truth about the land of the free? This is the book for you.
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Summary: A peoples history of the United States: 1492-present
Review: Distorted, leans so far left it was difficult to read. Please spare the bleeding heart liberal slant on history, life is not fair - period. Without this country and the principles it is founded on, life would indeed be misery, for millions more people than are currently suffering in Third world countries, or under the hammer of communism. Please let history speak for itself,good or bad and don't inflate or deflate it according to personal agenda.
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Summary: An Uplifting History
Review: Critics of this book must think of history the same way Henry Kissinger does. He calls it "the memory of states". But Professor Howard Zinn clearly shows us that history belongs to the PEOPLE and not the states that rule them. Yes, it might be hard to swallow when most of us have been taught that great things happen due to the eternal wisdom and strength of our national leaders and poweful institutions. Thankfully, Zinn shows us quite the opposite. Time and time again it is the struggle of ordinary people, carried forward with great courage and dignity, that lead to history's greatest moments. To me, this is a very optimistic, uplifting account of our country's past. This book shows the historical dangers of un-checked power and illegitimate authority and what is possible when people act bravely to resist it.
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Summary: A Vital Book for Students
Review: This book should be in classrooms everywhere -- it gives the "dark underbelly" of history that is simply not taught in schools. Perhaps if students had access to this book, they'd enjoy history more, since it gives a side that is seldom seen -- namely that of everyday people. This book really is a people's history, in that it shows how normal people are the driving force of history far more than the usual "kings and dictators" fare students are force-fed. And even more exciting, Zinn has a breezy, readable style that makes this one an easy read. I wish we had more historians like Zinn.
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