A People's History of the United States

By: Howard Zinn

Narrated by: Jeff Zinn

Length: 34 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

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

For much of his life, historian Howard Zinn chronicled American history from the bottom up, throwing out the official version 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, A People's History of the United States 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' 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.

©2009 Howard Zinn (P)2009 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"Zinn's work is a vital corrective to triumphalist accounts." ( Publishers Weekly)

One of those must-read historical narratives

This book provides a starting point and a format for thinking not only about American history, but about any history concerning people, societies, nations, and the dynamics of power that inevitably set people and systems against one another. The information in this book covers many of the important narratives that have been missing and left untaught or unexplored in most schools. This is the kind of understanding that will help us recogize and avoid "repeating history", and look for ways of building a future that benefits not necessarily systems, corporations, nations, or political parties, ... but rather that benefits the people. As we are all people, this seems to be a fitting goal.

A must read!

Having grown up in a conservative household I was not properly exposed to the injustices of our country's government, especially regarding its profits based on war efforts and its treatment of the 99% of its population. This history account has increased my respect for past activists as well as having lit a fire in my mind that is sure to come out in my own work and involvement in society.

The little guy's story

History, they say, is written by the victors. This is history from the other perspective, the voice of those trampled under the boots of the victors. It challenges us to take a hard look at the uglier side of victory (the inconvenient "un-American side) and asks, is this really what we want to be when we grow up?

Worthwhile even if overly biased

Very powerful history that rightly needs to be told and more importantly learned. Zinn is clearly coming from an ultra anti-government, anti-capitalist standpoint and as a result assigns malice of intent to every action or non-action by anyone from those groups. But at least he is honest about that and once I started focusing on the facts (I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt...with the occasional fact check) and not his conclusions then I really was able to get into the book and be a sympathetic listener, which I’m is what Mr. Zinn wanted in the first place. I would definitely recommend and large portions should absolutely be incorporated into all levels of teaching.

Wow

What an amazing and brilliant history of the United States. Having lived though the last chapters myself I can say I’m impressed by how accurate and insightful the analysis is. Everyone should read this book. It should be mandatory in American school curricula.

Outstanding

I would consider this an uncensored history of the United States from a perspective that many people may not want to hear. I appreciated hearing the other side of history

Brilliant

This book is history from the peoples standpoint and not the politicians or the privileged few! A true history! Loved it!

Poor performance

The information obtained from this book is very interesting and well put together. It occasionally is a little redundant. The reading performance was terrible and took away from the overall meaning of the book.

Truly was enlightened

What I enjoyed about this book was the perspective from the narrative is conveyed. I believe this is a book to be included to elementary and high school history.

Exceptional read!

Very informative and pleasant to read. I would recommend to anyone looking to expand their knowledge.