For those of you who haven’t read Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of The United States you should go find your high school US History teacher and punch them in the face.
For those of you who have read APHOTUS let’s have a moment of silence for one of the great intellectual activists of this century, Howard Zinn who passed away today of a heart attack at the age of 87.
Favorite Classic American Historians:
Frederick Jackson Turner
Charles Beard (and Mary Beard)
Arthur Schlesinger Jr.
Howard Zinn
That leaves you, Eric Foner and Mary Beth Norton.
Read A People’s History of the United States online free
i’m a big historical non-fiction buff and A People’s History is nothing short of perfection. as libby mentioned above, if you haven’t read it yet, you should. rip howard zinn.
January 28, 2010 at 7:40 amZinn is a great loss.
However I’m distressed (…eh, not really) that you’ve left off your list the great Thomas A. Bailey, author of everyone’s favorite AP American History textbook, The American Pageant, and coiner of such ridiculously punnish phrases as “The British ruled the waves and waived the rules.”
RIP, both of them.
January 28, 2010 at 9:05 amZinn’s writing inspired me to get involved in politics. Sad that even here in Capitol Hill, his death will be overshadowed by SOTU discussions. He will be missed but he’ll live on in AP US classes around the country!
January 28, 2010 at 10:36 amZinn’s writing inspired me to tell a bunch of libtards to fuck off on the regular when they assumed that what he wrote was the definitive take on everything.
January 28, 2010 at 10:59 amTruly sad.
While I would agree with Dave that Zinn’s treatment of events is not gospel truth, he had a great sense of the ordering, purpose, and wonder of human events which distinguishes great historians.
To your list of great American historians I would add William Manchester and Lizabeth Cohen.
January 28, 2010 at 11:14 amWhat an amazing man and uniquely honest historian. I’m happy his work will continue to improve the world.
January 28, 2010 at 11:40 am
RIP Howard. Thanks for fighting the good fight.
January 27, 2010 at 7:43 pm