Rating: 
Summary: The Truth Hurts
Review: Revisionist historian labeled a radical for telling the truth. History written from the bottom up, not about the victors but those who lost in America. Detailed coverage of the underground labor and anarchist movements, the real face of war and imperialism, and the European invasion of the Americas. I was lucky enough to have a college professor assign this as mandatory reading. I finished it in 3 weeks. The other textbook never even came out of its plastic. Zinn avoids the common pitfalls of revisionist history by not wallowing in liberal apologist PC philosophy. Read Chapter 23 if you are seeking an ancedote to this line of thinking. The masses rise up together against the system instead of fighting each other and a new world is born of equality. Zinn and Marx must be blood relatives. Zinn is Marx's answer to the new age of problems confronting the working class.
Rating:
Summary: A Different View of American History
Review: Being a US history teacher, I found that Zinn's book a great help in the classroom. His book challenges the standard US history textbook and that of the students in the class. The students in the classroom, question the textbooks and what they been told about their country. I found Zinn's book a great companion in the classroom, and also outside of the classroom. Zinn's inclusion of minorities and others that have been left out of the standard US history textbooks is helpful when speaking to classes of students, who are different from the majority of the surrounding population. This is a book all history teachers should have when they go class.
Rating: 
Summary: Why is a freedom of speech so special?
Review: I am particularly amused by those negative reviewers who criticize Zinn because he fails to acknowledge that the USA must be a great country because he is alowed to publish a critical book like this. Are we "lucky" that we live in a country where we have freedom of speech, or shouldn't that just be the expected norm? All governments should allow free speech and just because some don't does not mean the USA is perfect just because we do have freedom of speech. Saying that this is a great country because we have freedom of speech makes no more sense than saying this is a great country because the government doesn't round up and execute the retarded. Freedom of speech should be a given. The criticisms also reminded me of the time I heard a presentation from Gregory Johnson (the person who was arrested for flag burning) before the Supreme Court decided his case. Someone from the audience (who obviously did not share Mr. Johnson's radical views about the USA) said "I hope you win your case, because it will show what a great country this is that allows such dissent that a person can even burn the flag." Johnson responded: "If I win my case, it will be because the powers that be want to keep people like you thinking that." Touche!
Rating:
Summary: Eye opening, scathing history
Review: Zinn opened my eyes to a lot of unpleasant American history I wasn't much aware of. Drawing on a ton of facts, he shows that painful social progress usually came about by ordinary Americans going against the grain; people pushing rather than politicians pulling.Zinn pours out historical facts which speak powerfully and scathingly on their own. However, I found a certain "us vs. them" theme running through the book, a tactic cults employ to create solidarity (I've been there). I was left with the impression that rich capitalists and capitalism are the evil elements, while the messy masses are mostly good. The book was easy to read, not academic. But I'll read a few other American history books as a college history teacher recommended. He included A People's History on his list. "If your brother sin against you, rebuke him." (Jesus) Zinn's book is a powerful rebuke to the past and present sins of this country.
Rating:
Summary: Thats why they call ours a "liberal democracy"
Review: Zinn's classic remains a fitting tribute to American liberal democracy. Indeed, ours is a nation in which minority populations deserve at least some voice against the tyranny of the majority. Does Zinn play politics...absolutely. Does he pick and choose historical data in an attempt to evoke an emotional response...sure. None the less, A People's History is a valuable read taken with a grain of salt. Ultimately, Zinn's commentary represents exactly the form of divergent, keep us honest thinking that is essential to American democracy.
Rating:
Summary: History from the bottom up
Review: Rather than the same old litany of the accomplishments of generals, politicians and leaders, Zinn offers readers a refreshingly new outlook at American history - from the bottom up. Fundamental moments in America's history which are left out of or glossed over in most conventional histories are given much attention by Zinn using animated quotations and eloquent prose. A must read for any serious student of American history who wishes to view past events from an entirely different perspective.
Rating: 
Summary: Neccessary Evil?
Review: Zinn's book is not useless: it remains a neccessary corrective to the Paul Johnsons of the world, the America-firsters who think this country is without original sin, and the general public who is clueless about any aspect of US history.. But Zinn is wearying. He is a two-note piano riff playing incessantly amidst the symphonic excess of history. According to Z., the entire point of the US seems to have been conjured up by white landowners in 1660 or thereabouts, and from then on "The Establishment" has ruled the country subtly, allowing just enough dissent (i.e. Zinn's millions-plus-selling book) to delude the public that they are free. The ludicrousness of this scenario, his willingness to mash an aristocrat like Washington and a self-made capitalist like Carnegie into one heap of Bad White Men, creates a simple "Us v. them" storyline that he contorts to fit all of the madness, wildness and occasional wonderment this country has produced. And he gets sloppy and sentimental in the 1960s chapter, to the point of self-parody, and his sources of how the public responded to crises like Vietnam, Watergate, et al (basically paraphrases of NYTimes phone polls taken at random through the 1960s-70s) are suspect, at best. His final chapter, where he dreams of a world where no one has to work grueling jobs and we all live as one, is recycled whimsy first put forth by Enfantin or Fourier nearly 200 years ago. I once loved this book, thought it "told the truth", but to quote Zinn's hero Bob Dylan, I'm younger than that now.
Rating:
Summary: Fab!
Review: What a fantastic book! An insightful look at the history our elementary school teachers forgot that can change your perspective on our nation. The book is, admittedly, a bit stilted by Zinn's personal politics, and my opinion of it is stilted by my own similar politics. However, I think the point is to read it and form your opinions from Zinn's presentation of the past. So even if you disagree, it challenges you to do so, thus making it a great improvement over your typical history book. I found particularly compelling the discussion of the labor movement, especially the early years. It is a moving and exciting story that goes virtually untold in conventional texts. What a waste -- to miss this tale about the people who gave us *all* so much! Also enjoyed Zinn's discussion of war in the terms of his own pacifism. I would recommend, for further study of his views on war, any number of his other books where he talks about his personal experiences in "the Good War" (WWII) and his protests during Vietnam. In summary -- an excellent and thought-provoking work, even if you disagree. It gets you motivated to action!
Rating: 
Summary: Anti-American Garbage
Review: I was forced to read this terrible tome for my American History class. Zinn's book is just another example of the kind of Politically correct B.S. that is being foced down the throats of students today (read Tenured Radicals). Particularly odious is the part about the Reagan Presidency. He mentions the 1981-82 recession (caused by the oil crunch), but neglects what happened afterward. Zinn's book is just political correctness with a bitter, paranoid edge. He whines and whines about how the reforms of one president are so horrible, and then whines about Presidents that do away with those reforms. In Zinn's mind, FDR is a monster and anti-white racist Malcom X and Nat Turner, who killed woman and children, are heroes. I wonder why he never mentioned any atrocities commited by the supposedly angelic Native American tribes against whites as well as against other Native Americans. Reading this America bashing enraged me and, counter to what Zinn would want, made me more patriotic. Conservatives of the world Unite!
Rating: 
Summary: A hint for a customer review reader
Review: Hello, I'm French. And I thought it would be a good idea to read a book about the history of the US. Following an advice from a British friend (you know, the 51st or 52nd US state, depending on what number you give to Israel?), I bought Zinn's one. After reading the author introduction, I knew what to expect, but anyway find it interesting, and as suggested by some of you, will complement it with another one. Now, to follow what Deadjfk 79 wrote, something I'd like to suggest to somebody still wondering what to do and reading these present reader reviews, which are numerous: don't waist your time reading at 5 and 1 stars, these are all pure nonsense at one end or the other of the political scene (and who wouldn't rate such a book in an extreme way if they knew anything about history books). Why 3 stars for me? I still have some pages to go in Zinn, and take a "middle road".
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