false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166575872m/14095.jpg 14095 2 "Thank you, Howard Zinn. Thank you for telling us what none of our leaders are willing to: The truth. And you tell it with such brilliance, such humanity. It is a personal honor to be able to say I am a better citizen because of you."-- Michael Moore, director of the film Fahrenheit 9/11, and author of the New York Times bestseller, Stupid White Men ...and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation!<P>Find here the voice of the well-educated and honorable and capable and human United States of America, which might have existed if only absolute power had not corrupted its third-rate leaders so absolutely.-- Kurt Vonnegut, author of A Man Without a Country<P>A Power Governments Cannot Suppress, is a major new collection of essays on American history, class, immigration, justice, and ordinary citizens who have made a difference. Zinn addresses America's current political/ethical crisis using lessons learned from our nation's history. Zinn brings a profoundly human, yet uniquely American perspective to each subject he writes about, whether it's the abolition of war, terrorism, the Founding Fathers, the Holocaust, defending the rights of immigrants, or personal liberties. Written in an accessible, personal tone, Zinn approaches the telling of U.S. history from an active, engaged point of view. "America's future is linked to how we understand our past," writes Zinn; "For this reason, writing about history, for me, is never a neutral act."<P>Zinn frames the book with an opening essay titled "If History is to be Creative," a reflection on the role and responsibility of the historian. "To think that history-writing must aim simply to recapitulate the failures that dominate the past," writes Zinn, "is to make historians collaborators in an endless cycle of defeat." "If history is to be creative, to anticipate a possible future without denying the past, it should, I believe, emphasize new possibilities by disclosing those hidden episodes of the past when, even if in brief flashes, people showed their ability to resist, to join together, and occasionally win. I am supposing, or perhaps only hoping, that our future may be found in the past's fugitive moments of compassion rather than in its solid centuries of warfare."<P>Buzzing with stories and ideas, Zinn draws upon fascinating, little-known historical anecdotes spanning from the Declaration of Independence to the USA PATRIOT Act to comment on the most controversial issues facing us today: government dishonesty, how to respond to terrorism, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the loss of our liberties, immigration, and the responsibility of the citizen to confront power for the common good.<P>Considered a "modern-day Thoreau" by Jonathon Kozol, Zinn's inspired writings address the reader as an active participant in history making. "We live in a beautiful country," writes Zinn, in the book's opening chapter. "But people who have no respect for human life, freedom, or justice have taken it over. It is now up to all of us to take it back."<P>Featuring essays penned over an eight-year period, A Power Governments Cannot Suppress is Howard Zinn's first writerly work in several years, an invaluable post-9/11-era addition to the themes that run through his bestselling classic, A People's History Of the United States.<P>Howard Zinn is a veteran of World War II and author of many books and plays, including the million-selling classic, A People's History of the United States. 16178 30 11 2006 A Power Governments Cannot Suppress total:183|5:82|4:62|3:34|2:5|1:0| 183 770 347 29 3 2 false false Wed Oct 17 13:25:02 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 30 10:29:18 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 30 10:58:56 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 2 false false Sat Dec 06 16:28:21 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 11 22:30:08 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Jul 26 11:47:21 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 26 11:49:00 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Wed May 07 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Mar 14 10:37:40 -0700 2008 Wed May 07 17:41:36 -0700 2008
A great book and quite timely. Zinn's method from people's history is there, but now it's focused on people's movements and what it will take now, in regards to neo-liberal, neo-con conservatives that are only inter...more...]]> 0 0 false false Mon Mar 24 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Mar 09 14:25:05 -0700 2008 Mon Mar 24 08:51:36 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Nov 07 18:29:11 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 07 18:29:42 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Fri Dec 12 13:02:18 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 12 13:02:36 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Mon Jan 19 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Apr 15 17:14:38 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 15 17:15:11 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Jul 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jan 02 07:41:30 -0800 2008 Sun Jul 13 06:41:05 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Dec 01 17:17:40 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 18 12:35:29 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Sat Sep 27 19:12:58 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 05 11:08:43 -0700 2008 Sat Sep 27 19:12:58 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Mar 28 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Mar 29 17:57:54 -0700 2008 Sat Mar 29 18:00:04 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Mar 27 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Mar 17 06:27:17 -0700 2008 Thu Mar 27 06:31:45 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Mon Apr 28 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 27 20:11:41 -0700 2007 Mon Apr 28 10:16:49 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Apr 18 17:25:25 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 18 17:31:20 -0700 2008 5 0 true false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Apr 15 21:32:45 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 10 08:28:09 -0700 2007 3 0 true false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Mar 09 08:30:59 -0800 2007 Fri Mar 09 08:32:52 -0800 2007 5 0 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Aug 18 15:23:51 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 26 14:23:04 -0700 2007
I'll read more of his work now.]]> 5 0 false false Mon Aug 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 28 12:53:15 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 18 21:20:49 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon May 21 10:57:52 -0700 2007 Tue May 29 09:10:16 -0700 2007 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=14095