A People's History of the United States

A People's History of the United States: 1492–Present is a book by Howard Zinn, which seeks to tell the history of the United States through the eyes of the "common people" as opposed to those in power. The book has become a major success for a dissident work, selling over a million copies and being used in high schools and colleges across the country. It has been frequently updated, with the most recent edition covering events through 2003.

Related Topics:
Howard Zinn - United States - Dissident - 2003

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In 2004, Zinn published a companion volume with Anthony Arnove, titled Voices of A People's History of the United States. The book parallels A People's History in structure, supplementing it with extended quotations from often-overlooked primary sources.

Related Topics:
2004 - Anthony Arnove

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Zinn's book begins by looking at the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the New World from the point of view of the natives of what is now Haiti:

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Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the island's beaches and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them water, food, gifts.

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Later, Zinn outlines his ideas about writing history:

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It is not that the historian can avoid emphasis of some facts and not of others ... any chosen emphasis supports (whether the historian means to or not) some kind of interest... his ideological interest is not openly expressed ... it is presented as if all readers of history had a common interest which historians serve to the best of their ability. ... The treatment of heroes (Columbus) and their victims (the Arawaks) — the quiet acceptance of conquest and murder in the name of progress — is only one aspect of a certain approach to history, in which the past is told from the point of view of governments, conquerors, diplomats, leaders. ...

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The history of any country, presented as the history of a family, conceals fierce conflicts of interest (sometimes exploding, most often repressed) between conquerors and conquered, masters and slaves, capitalists and workers, dominators and dominated in race and sex. And in such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, as Albert Camus suggested, not to be on the side of the executioners.

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Thus, in that inevitable taking of sides which comes from selection and emphasis in history, I prefer to tell the story of the discovery of America from the viewpoint of the Arawaks, the Constitution from the standpoint of the slaves, of Andrew Jackson as seen by the Cherokees, of the Civil War as seen by the New York Irish, of the Mexican War as seen by the deserting soldiers of Scott's army, of the rise of industrialism as seen by the young women in the Lowell textile mills, of the Spanish-American War as seen by the Cubans, the conquest of the Philippines as seen by African-American soldiers on Luzon, the Gilded Age as seen by southern farmers, theFirst World War as seen by socialists, the Second World War as seen by pacifists, the New Deal as seen by African-Americans in Harlem, the post-war American empire as seen by peons in Latin America. And so on, to the limited extent that any one person, however he or she strains, can "see" history from the standpoint of others.

Related Topics:
Arawak - Constitution - Slaves - Andrew Jackson - Cherokee - Civil War - New York - Irish - Mexican War - Scott - Industrialism - Lowell - Spanish-American War - Cuba - Philippines - Luzon - Gilded Age - First World War - Socialists - Second World War - Pacifist - New Deal - Harlem - Empire - Latin America

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