ipl-logo

Zinn Critique

524 Words3 Pages

Jamie Isaacson
Mr. Zontek
History 136
Participation #0

Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States states how Zinn’s biases influenced his relationship with American history. He references his youth as a dock worker, and his military service, to explain how he couldn’t remain objective regarding his choices of what parts of history to teach, thereby displaying bias. He states that because the US was founded and is ran by self-interested white men with a desire to create a strong central government that could wage war on the whims of an individual, American history is a study of classism and arrogance. Zinn also claims that American history is “a white man’s history” because there is no mention of Black people or Native Americans beyond …show more content…

Zinn uses the lens of social justice to view American history and put forward the argument that American history is rife with racism (civil rights issues and omission of non-white historical figures), violence (genocide of Native Americans and race riots), capitalistic greed leading to immiseration (upper class and its then ownership of 2/5th of America’s wealth), and power run amok leading to a type of imperialism (worldwide military interventions). S&A put on rose-colored glasses to argue that American history is fair (the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights), and that Americans are a people of character (Adams’ refusal to create conflict) and virtue (Founding Father’s insertion of slavery-ending measures into government), thereby painting Americans as a moralistic and exceptional people. Based upon what little bit of these two books that I’ve read, I’m going to view both of their contents with skepticism; Zinn seems to be pushing a liberalist agenda, while S&A are adhering to a conservative interpretation of American history. Whenever something so blatantly biased is encountered, it is best to view it with a healthy degree of doubt. The ironic thing is, I believe that both Zinn and S&A are right: American history is violent and exclusive, Americans are a truly amazing people that have achieved greatness, and NEVER trust the federal

Show More
Related

Brief Summary Of Little Crow By Gary Clayton Anderson

1197 Words | 5 Pages

Gary Clayton Anderson is an American historian who is currently a professor at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK. He is focused mainly on the history of native people in the Great Plains and southwest region of the United States. Anderson received his bachelor’s degree from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN, his master’s degree from the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, SD, and his Ph.D. from the University of Toledo in Toledo, OH. Along with the classes he teaches, Anderson travels around the country giving lectures about relations between Native Americans and white settlers and other related topics.

Read More

Howard Zinn Chapter Summary

495 Words | 2 Pages

Howard Zinn argues throughout his book that one of the main purposes of the state is to establish long term stability of the system. In the United States during the late 1800 's and early 1900 's, there was a rapid incline in industrialization. This meant more factories were popping up trying to take advantage of the time and pursue their American dream in the realm of free enterprise. In this pursuit however businesses rarely gave attention to the needs of the workers. The end goal was to make capital to invest in capital, so anywhere money could be saved or earned businesses took full advantage of it.

Read More

Robert Parkinson Incentive Behind Revolutionary War Summary

253 Words | 2 Pages

Robert Parkinson’s views on the incentive behind revolutionary war differs from the customary narration. In the book, Parkinson provide a conventional view of the place of the African Americans and Native Americans in the history of the United States. The primary focus of the author is to clarify the roots of the war, the common conflict within the American patriots, and the exclusion of blacks and natives from the boundary of the revolution. The biggest claim made by the author is stereotyping of blacks and natives during the war. The founding fathers, including Washington and Jefferson placed fear in the heart of people by stereotyping the friends and enemy based on skin color.

Read More

Zinn Vs Schweikart Analysis

510 Words | 3 Pages

Eric Harris Rough Draft Friday Paper 10/29/2015 Zinn vs Schweikart and Allen In A People’s History of the United States (1980) by Howard Zinn, he makes the argument that the US Constitution was written to protect the selfish economic interests of the wealthy. Zinn has plenty of logical information to back his statement up, but in A Patriot’s History of the United States (2004) by Schweikart and Allen opposes the idea. They argue that the constitution was written to promote selfless ideas of unity and political truth like it should have. Schweikart and Allen feel that true patriots are ignored due to too much emphasis on political correctness.

Read More

Opposing Views Of Howard Zinn And Gordon S. Wood

1418 Words | 6 Pages

The United States is a government founded upon the principles of equality, or are we? That is the question studied and debated by historians of American history. Our founding fathers motives are scrutinized through the study of their personal letters, historical documents, and public records. Two historians, Howard Zinn and Gordon S. Wood, support opposing viewpoints. Howard Zinn describes the Founding Fathers as only interested in writing the Constitution to upholding the wealthy’s power.

Read More

Warren Zimmerman's First Great Triumph

360 Words | 2 Pages

Warren Zimmerman’s book, First Great Triumph, is a book about five influential men who led the United States to becoming a world power. Zimmerman’s work discusses the United States’ expansion, as the nation essentially began growing from the moment it was founded. The book goes in depth on the roles that these five men, John Hay, Alfred T. Mahan, Henry Cabot Lodge, Elihu Root, and Theodore Roosevelt, had in strengthening the power of the United States. Zimmerman also discusses the wars, which led to the United States acquiring both the land and the people of many diverse origins and races who lived on the land. Zimmerman gives details about the ideas of these five men to give the reader background information on them, adding to the historical

Read More

Similarities Between John Proctor And The Crucible

910 Words | 4 Pages

In fact, back in the older times of United States history there was was people fighting for

Read More

These Truths Sparknotes

1136 Words | 5 Pages

Jill Lepore's book, These Truths , is an attempt to portray the United States history from beginning to end. The novel discusses American laws, politics, important events, and people. Lepore took on the task of trying to fit all of the United States history in a book of only 932 pages. Jill Lepoore managed to get a good overview of all the important historical events while also adding some of her own opinions and ideas. These Truths is an exceptional piece of writing and it provides accurate and useful information on American history, while also still getting her perspective across.

Read More

Comparing Zinn's Use Of Language And Tone

157 Words | 1 Pages

Both authors use the type of language and tone that try to persuade us, the readers, to makes us believe what they claim is true relying on evidence and using them to their convenience. Schweikart and Allen want to make us believe that Native Americans have that weakness on adaptation, a deficiency that make the reader think the authors objective is to justify the fact that the Natives Americans were mistreated by the Americans. On the other hand, Zinn uses a tone that make us believe that Americans are liars and selfish. The Americans in other words took advantage of the Indians, making it seem like the Indians were easily persuade just so they can fit in with the Americans, even though what they were promised was never going to become a reality.

Read More

Walter R. Echo-Hawk Thesis

1086 Words | 5 Pages

Secondary Source Analysis In order to create his ideal Native American standing within the American Government, which includes the non-indigenous portion of the world acknowledging and understanding Native American issues with the United States and Internationally, Walter R. Echo-Hawk, in his A Context for Understanding Native American Issues, delves into the United State’s past Indian affairs as well as his goals for achieving this ideal. It is important to consider the author’s attitude towards the topic, his desired audience and the devices he used when analyzing the strength of his arguments. Echo-Hawk brings up the point, during the beginning of chapter two, that the general public is unaware of much of the happenings between the United

Read More

Analysis Of Columbus The Indians And Human Progress

251 Words | 2 Pages

“Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress”, chapter one of “A People’s History of the United States”, written by professor and historian Howard Zinn, concentrates on a different perspective of major events in American history. It begins with the native Bahamian tribe of Arawaks welcoming the Spanish to their shores with gifts and kindness, only then for the reader to be disturbed by a log from Columbus himself – “They willingly traded everything they owned… They would make fine servants… With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” (Zinn pg.1) In the work, Zinn continues explaining the unnecessary evils Columbus and his men committed unto the unsuspecting natives.

Read More

Was Reconstruction A Success Or Failure

1000 Words | 4 Pages

According to Chapter one of Major Problems in American History

Read More

The Cherokee Removal Analysis

929 Words | 4 Pages

Jose Romo History 101 Wednesday breakout session Primary Source paper #2 Question # 1 October 28th, 2015 "There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice" Charles de Montesquieu. These words by Montesquieu seem to fit not only the American Revolution but also the Cherokee Removal. The actions of some of the Cherokee people that refused to give up their ancestral land may support the “uncivilized barbaric savages” claims of the Americans of European ancestry; however, the primary source documents in "The Cherokee Removal" demonstrate a different interpretation of the Cherokee people and their struggles as well as vindicate their actions. First, the primary source documents in "The

Read More

Misrepresentation Of Native Americans

1058 Words | 5 Pages

Adam Sorenson Prof. Riggs COMP 01112 2/12/18 Misrepresentation of Native Americans Native American’s for many years now have been viewed as lone warriors or squaw, some people don’t even know that they still exist! People just think of the Native American people in storybook tales and nothing more then that. The Native Americans have been living in the United States for awhile now and were the first ones on the country’s soil. They were here way before Christopher Columbus and the other European Colonists even discovered America and they are still present in the U.S.

Read More

The Story Of All America's Cultures By Luch Ji-Yeon

803 Words | 4 Pages

American History Education Reforms The definition as well as the specific parts of accurate American history is a highly debated topic- especially in regards to educating children on American history. In “Let’s tell the Story of All America’s Cultures” by Yuh Ji-Yeon gives her point of view on the controversial topic of the success of American history education. As the author is a Korean immigrant she has a special connection to this topic, and is writing this article to giver her opinion in the debate of reforming education in America. Ji-Yeon successfully persuades the audience that American history education in the United States is discriminatory by using her personal experiences and emotions as she informs the audience of a possible solution

Read More

More about Zinn Critique

Related Topics

Open Document