A People's History of the United States

By: Howard Zinn

Narrated by: Jeff Zinn

THE CLASSIC NATIONAL BESTSELLER

""A wonderful, splendid book—a book that should be read by every American, student or otherwise, who wants to understand his country, its true history, and its hope for the future."" –Howard Fast

Historian Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States chronicles American history from the bottom up, throwing out the official narrative taught in schools—with its emphasis on great men in high places—to focus on the street, the home, and the workplace.

Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, it is the only volume to tell America's story from the point of view of—and in the words of—America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, the working poor, and immigrant laborers. As Zinn shows, many of our country's greatest battles—the fights for a fair wage, an eight-hour workday, child-labor laws, health and safety standards, universal suffrage, women's rights, racial equality—were carried out at the grassroots level, against bloody resistance.

Covering Christopher Columbus's arrival through President Clinton's first term, A People's History of the United States features insightful analysis of the most important events in our history. This edition also includes an introduction by Anthony Arnove, who wrote, directed, and produced The People Speak with Zinn and who coauthored, with Zinn, Voices of a People’s History of the United States.

An effective advocate for a suppressed perspective

It certainly challenges the traditional narrative for US History. In my opinion, it was absolutely fascinating, tragic, and eye-opening. One of my all-time favorite books. Offers a completely different perspective on US History, that left me with a much greater appreciation for being an American, despite it shining a light on pieces of our history that are much more complicated and messy than the story that’s traditionally told.

focused on the ignored history of America.

my only complaint is how Zin frames social progress as more intricate forms of control as opposed to the hard-won concessions of power that they are. If they were more intricate forms of control, then the establishment wouldn't be constantly trying to subtly undermine them while we aren't looking.

Other than that a great book that all true American Patriots should read.

mixed feelings

there is so much I could say about this book, but I will try to keep it short.
the issue I have is that the book has a good amount of information in it that is rarely covered in most history books, the problem is you have wade through the authors socialism, racism and sexism.
what I mean by this is there is no mention of the term"white" changing over time and ignores Italian and Irish discrimination for instance.
also any time a movement was supported by white men, the author ignores this or quickly glosses over it, as if acknowledging that not all white men are evil hurts him to admit.
then there is their strong push for socialism, ignoring all the good capitalism does and only focusing on the negative. they refusing to look at governments around the world and ask if people are better off, on the whole, in capitalism or socialism.
the best points in the book are about the costs of wars and the justifications of them. if you can make your way through the other stuff, the take on wars is worth thinking about.

The History You Want to Know

Where does A People's History of the United States rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This audio book is among the very best I have ever listened to. It is seldom I want to listen to an audio book more than once, but this will be an exception. I rank it up there with the David McCullough, and Doris Kearns Goodwin books I have listened to.

What did you like best about this story?

The familiar history we learn in school is in the background, while the history which would have affected us as individuals (if we lived in the time period) is more in the foreground.

What does Jeff Zinn bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Jeff Zinn reads the book delightfully. Sure, he's familiar with the material, but he reads with a conversational tone that makes it seem like he's answering a question I just asked. This will help me want to listen to it a second time, or a third time. He never sounds like he is lecturing or even reading, for that matter.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. I knew I could never listen to this entire book in one sitting. But the great thing about this book is that I was always anxious to resume. It was so interesting.

Any additional comments?

This is an audio book I would have liked to receive as a gift.
I say that because people browse titles sometimes looking for a great audio book to give as a gift. This is it. This is perfect.

A must read / listen

Long, but worth it. It took me even longer to finish the book because I was fact checking along the way. While you may be able to argue some of the conclusions, the facts do stand-up to scrutiny. Much better than any history class you have ever taken. The author explains many of the issues and traits of America.