Goodreads | Ben's review

Ben's review

People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present (P.S.)
by Howard Zinn

[close]

blog this review

Copy/paste the text below into your blog.

<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2767.People_s_History_of_the_United_States_1492_to_Present?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present (P.S.)" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1161517606m/2767.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2767.People_s_History_of_the_United_States_1492_to_Present?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1899.Howard_Zinn">Howard Zinn</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/16007234?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 4 of 5 stars This book was a marathon. Over 700 pages. It took me almost a month to read. Seriously, break it up into volumes. That frustration aside, the information in this book was really important, while being very disturbing. It was a side of American history that very few people know, of course, in the afterword, Zinn admits that historians decide what becomes of history so we have to take all history somewhat carefully, knowing the source.
 
 Zinn admits that he is embarrassed when readers and critics point out flaws but as a reader and a voluntary, if amateur, critic, I feel I am allowed to point out a few flaws. Zinn tried to blame all crime on poverty, considering Enron and all the other corporate fraud over the last several years, this position becomes harder to argue. Greed is as much of a motivation for crime as poverty. Zinn has a very one-sided view of history, which, again, he admits to in the afterward. He left a bad taste in my mouth when he mentioned Nickel and Dimed, a book I thoroughly disliked because of the contempt and condesending tone used to mention all of the working poor, a large majority of Zinn's subjects. Finally, I think his views on Utopia are very naive, as all views on Utopia probably are.
 
 All that being said, it was fascinating to learn how much of our nation's history has been decided, much against public opinion and public morality, by the richest 1% of our society. It leaves a disagreeable pit in your stomach to see the extant some people will go to increase their already overly-substantial wealth (making more in one year than I will make in my entire lifetime). It gets to the point where you just have to ask what the point of it all is. The militarism that the government (the government for the people, by the people) has charged unwilling taxpayers for for the last 50 years is more than disturbing, often to the detriment of programs focused on helping the population, don't say welfare, that's got a negative connotation, say programs to help the poor. I think Zinn should be more realistic and explore ways of supporting a presidency without corporate backing which would eliminate 90% of the motivation he charged with almost all of the atrocities mentioned in this book.
 
 All of the presidents discussed in this book come off badly, it's the nature of the material. They become the villians in the story. Understanding that I am a somewhat-educated liberal in the time of what I consider to be the worst presidency in the history of the United States, George W., I know that one of the reasons that George W. seems so bad, despite the fact that he's just not very bright, is the ease of access to information for modern society. Andrew Jackson was kind of a jackass but people didn't know as much about his policies as people now know about Bush's belief that global warming is a myth and that weapons of mass destruction, while held by most of our allies, were present in Iraq, prompting the war. I'm sorry if I turned this into a slightly political argument but I think this was part of Zinn's purpose.
 
 Finally, I think that another of Zinn's purposes in writing this book was to demonstrate the power of the people, "Ye are many, they are few!" but much of the history that he brings up doesn't go well for the people.
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/250757?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Ben's review
rating:

This book was a marathon. Over 700 pages. It took me almost a month to read. Seriously, break it up into volumes. That frustration aside, the information in this book was really important, while being very disturbing. It was a side of American history that very few people know, of course, in the afterword, Zinn admits that historians decide what becomes of history so we have to take all history somewhat carefully, knowing the source.

Zinn admits that he is embarrassed when readers and critics point out flaws but as a reader and a voluntary, if amateur, critic, I feel I am allowed to point out a few flaws. Zinn tried to blame all crime on poverty, considering Enron and all the other corporate fraud over the last several years, this position becomes harder to argue. Greed is as much of a motivation for crime as poverty. Zinn has a very one-sided view of history, which, again, he admits to in the afterward. He left a bad taste in my mouth when he mentioned Nickel and Dimed, a book I th...more This book was a marathon. Over 700 pages. It took me almost a month to read. Seriously, break it up into volumes. That frustration aside, the information in this book was really important, while being very disturbing. It was a side of American history that very few people know, of course, in the afterword, Zinn admits that historians decide what becomes of history so we have to take all history somewhat carefully, knowing the source.

Zinn admits that he is embarrassed when readers and critics point out flaws but as a reader and a voluntary, if amateur, critic, I feel I am allowed to point out a few flaws. Zinn tried to blame all crime on poverty, considering Enron and all the other corporate fraud over the last several years, this position becomes harder to argue. Greed is as much of a motivation for crime as poverty. Zinn has a very one-sided view of history, which, again, he admits to in the afterward. He left a bad taste in my mouth when he mentioned Nickel and Dimed, a book I thoroughly disliked because of the contempt and condesending tone used to mention all of the working poor, a large majority of Zinn's subjects. Finally, I think his views on Utopia are very naive, as all views on Utopia probably are.

All that being said, it was fascinating to learn how much of our nation's history has been decided, much against public opinion and public morality, by the richest 1% of our society. It leaves a disagreeable pit in your stomach to see the extant some people will go to increase their already overly-substantial wealth (making more in one year than I will make in my entire lifetime). It gets to the point where you just have to ask what the point of it all is. The militarism that the government (the government for the people, by the people) has charged unwilling taxpayers for for the last 50 years is more than disturbing, often to the detriment of programs focused on helping the population, don't say welfare, that's got a negative connotation, say programs to help the poor. I think Zinn should be more realistic and explore ways of supporting a presidency without corporate backing which would eliminate 90% of the motivation he charged with almost all of the atrocities mentioned in this book.

All of the presidents discussed in this book come off badly, it's the nature of the material. They become the villians in the story. Understanding that I am a somewhat-educated liberal in the time of what I consider to be the worst presidency in the history of the United States, George W., I know that one of the reasons that George W. seems so bad, despite the fact that he's just not very bright, is the ease of access to information for modern society. Andrew Jackson was kind of a jackass but people didn't know as much about his policies as people now know about Bush's belief that global warming is a myth and that weapons of mass destruction, while held by most of our allies, were present in Iraq, prompting the war. I'm sorry if I turned this into a slightly political argument but I think this was part of Zinn's purpose.

Finally, I think that another of Zinn's purposes in writing this book was to demonstrate the power of the people, "Ye are many, they are few!" but much of the history that he brings up doesn't go well for the people....less

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it) flag

comments (showing 0-0 of 0)

newest »

date

all Ben's books »