Joe Munson
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Joe Munson commented on Howard Zinn on the Limitations of American History Books on May 27, 2009, 11:20 PM
I have read many of the responses to Howard Zinn's thoughts on history books that are currently used in schools today. I have also read "The People's History of the United States", and I agree with the comment regarding Zinn's biases....to a point. Howard Zinn does tend to be extremely critical of the elitist governmental structure that exists within the United States, and he does paint a dismal picture at times. However, Howard Zinn has been very effective at provoking the discussion of issues that for so long were swept under the rug. The fact is that progress and the industrial machine have caused a lot of suffering for people throughout the United States and abroad during the past 300 years. Howard Zinn is one of the few people in academia with the courage to give a voice to the downtrodden in our society. He forces his readers to take a multi-cultural perspective, and to critically analyze the underlying motivations for United States internal and foreign policies.