Alternative Radio
July 22, 2022: Howard Zinn: A People’s History of the United States
“You wanna read a real history book?” Matt Damon asks Robin Williams in the movie Good Will Hunting. “Read Howard Zinn’s People’s History of the United States. That book’ll knock you on your ass.” It’ll do that and more. Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States has sold more than 2 million copies. And it keeps on selling. Zinn’s close friend Noam Chomsky said the book “changed the consciousness of a generation.” Zinn’s history from below approach was to foreground as he said, “the countless small actions of unknown people.” It was a sharp departure from the traditional great men framing of history: presidents, generals, leaders, etc. His unorthodox bottom-up approach presented the past stripped of its myths and propaganda.