Due to his negative outlook on the ideal of the American Dream, his critique of historical figures that greatly influenced the growth of the U.S., and his unsupportive attitude towards the success of the nation, Howard Zinn is often criticized as being “un-American,” which resulted in the banning of his book in school districts across the country. Zinn refers to the ideal of the American Dream by describing it as a flaw in the ideology of people who come to the U.S. in search of a better life, essentially corrupting the foundation of the United States by depicting the idea of “rags to riches” as “a myth, and a useful myth for control.” By doing this, he portrays the American Dream as fiction. In order to back up his statement regarding the …show more content…
Both a successful banker and a financier who brought organization to the national economy, J.P. Morgan had a major impact on the advancement and prosperity of the United States. Through the funding of railroads, Morgan aided in the construction of new systems which in turn provided for fast and easy transportation of goods, people, and livestock. He then went one step forward and linked railroads to each other, all of them to banks, and banks to insurance companies, which enabled the railroads to be easily funded by the banks. Despite his positive achievements that heavily impacted the U.S., Zinn presents Morgan’s achievements and character in a negative fashion. Zinn includes a statement written by Gustavus Myers describing how Morgan and other companies were in cahoots to monopolize the railroads and eliminate fair competition; thus, at the detriment of the people of the country. Rather than portraying Morgan as a man who played a major role in the history of the United States, Zinn depicts Morgan as a greedy businessman whose only interests include financial gain and competition therefore indirectly being responsible for “22,000 railroad workers [being] killed [and] injured.” In addition, Zinn presents the United State’s accomplishments in a negative