A People's History of the Untied States by Howard Zinn

[o1pickleboy]

A friend of mine just turned my on to this book its a real eye opener, has anyone else read this book? What was your opinion of it? Are there any other book like this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Peopl..._United_States

[Eumenides]

For eye-openers on American history and politics, Noam Chomsky is the best.

[Expletive Deleted]

There's a whole series of "People's History" offshoots, edited by Zinn.

You might also like Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, a critique of several American history textbooks as well as the way we teach history in general.

[chrisgiff]

I bought that book at a basement punk show when I was in high school. Needless to say, it was a real eye opener.

[o1pickleboy]

What really got my attention was the number rebellions and near revolutions we have had. Makes me wonder if any of them had worked how things to today would be really different. Also it was weird hearing that Oklahoma and Georgia were at one time politically in the hands of independent parties and not the republicans or democrats.

[o1pickleboy]

There's a whole series of "People's History" offshoots, edited by Zinn..

Are those offshoots continuations covering stuff after the Vietnam war or more extensive stuff about the 18th and 19th century because that is where my interest and enjoyment is the highest?

[Expletive Deleted]

Most of them are narrower looks at specific events or topics, usually pre-Vietnam. A People's History of the Civil War, A People's History of Sports in the United States, A People's History of the Supreme Court, etc.

Here's the New Press series list: http://thenewpress.com/index.php?opt...le%27s+history

Also, Zinn did a graphic novel that's part People's History and part autobiography, A People's History of the American Empire.

[o1pickleboy]

Most of them are narrower looks at specific events or topics, usually pre-Vietnam. A People's History of the Civil War, A People's History of Sports in the United States, A People's History of the Supreme Court, etc.

Here's the New Press series list: http://thenewpress.com/index.php?opt...le%27s+history

Also, Zinn did a graphic novel that's part People's History and part autobiography, A People's History of the American Empire.

Good I will definitely check them out, I felt in the first book a few chapters should have been longer or there own books. Looks like I wasn't alone.

[whydelongeface]

Finished this book yesterday. So fantastic and interesting.

[Dirtbag]

A very good book. Also his Voices of a People’s History of the United States is a pretty good primary source of peoples writings, speeches, poetry, and so on. , through the times that "A Peoples History" covers. A good companion piece. I still use my copy of both books for History papers. The Zinn Reader: Writings on Disobedience and Democracy is good collection of his essays on a variety of topics.
If your looking for stuff that covers 19th century such as labor movement strife, uprisings, tramp scares, and things they usually don't cover in school; especially after the Civil war, you should look at 1877: Americas Year of Living Violently by M.A Bellesiles
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8145452-1877

Or 1877: Year of Violence by R.V. Bruce
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...volocons0d-20/
That link also leads to another book which is good and informative The Great Labor Uprising of 1877

A good read that covers the Civil Rights movement from 1890 to 2000 is Faircloughs A Better Day Coming. While it encompases a large span of time, books like that can always lead to other sources and events that might peek your interest. Also if your looking for some quick , but interesting read on Court Cases there was a "Famous Trials Series" of books put out, most likely can find at a library, They are really short, but packed full of information and go into far more detail about the issues than some books do. At least the one I read on the supreme court case Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia was.

[Shikidum]

I kind of sympathised with Zinn on a human level, but i never agreed with him politically.