Just War: by Howard Zinn

by Howard Zinn, Gino Strada (Foreword), Moses Saman (Photographs)

From the author of the classic college campus favorite and perennial seller A People s History of the United States comes a short, intense polemic on the political direction of those United States, towards what seems to Zinn like perpetual war. Just War is based on a lecture given in Rome, where, as Zinn addressed an Italian audience, a public known for its negative opinions of recent American foreign policy, he could be direct about his own feelings. "I come from a country which is at war, as it has been almost continuously: and for that I feel shame." His rousing call to the only "just war," the "war against war," which concludes that "perhaps it will take a combination of factors to end war: but we must all play a part," is a must-read for those who know and trust his work, and, for those concerned about current events and looking for strong and morally driven persepctives, it is an excellent introduction to a great thinker.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History

72 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Howard Zinn was an American historian, playwright, philosopher, socialist intellectual and World War II veteran. He was chair of the history and social sciences department at Spelman College, and a political science professor at Boston University. Zinn wrote more than 20 books, including his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United States in 1980. In 2007, he published a version of it for younger readers, A Young People's History of the United States.

Zinn described himself as "something of an anarchist, something of a socialist. Maybe a democratic socialist." He wrote extensively about the civil rights movement, the anti-war movement and labor history of the United States. His memoir, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train (Beacon Press, 1994), was also the title of a 2004 documentary about Zinn's life and work. Zinn died of a heart attack in 2010, at the age of 87.

Reviews

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good essay by Howard Zinn on war, in which he draws on his WW II experiences.

[David Bjelland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two things that I never consciously decided were going to be "my thing" but which are definitely my thing now:
- Being a more-than-casual Howard Zinn reader
- Impulsively reading short books where a celebrity intellectual casually holds forth on a narrow subject.

Just War happens to be both, and I only wish I could say that it represented the best that either the author or the format has to offer, rather than highlighting their limitations.

Basically, the speech presented here can be condensed into one thesis and two tactics:

Thesis:
1) "War cannot be humanized, only abolished"

Tactics:
1) Civil disobedience (people refusing to fight)
2) Education around the costs of war and the motives of those who stand to gain from it (feeds into #1)

The rest is just some unremarkable sharing of personal history (which anyone already familiar with Zinn's work will know) and rhetorical water-treading.

The topic of why wars are waged and what we can do to prevent them is one that, relatively fresh off of Stephen Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature, I have a particular interest in lately, but unfortunately, it's not one that Zinn can bring any particular expertise to. In response to this incredibly diverse and thorny question, he settles for the obvious: the motives of the aggressors are always self-serving, and the results are horrifying.

Tell us something we don't know, Howard.

To be more specific, here are some things that, at the very least, I don't know, and hoped might be brought up in this speech:
- When a ruler openly flaunts international law and kill or terrorizes his own people, what are options besides effecting regime change to minimize violence?
- What are strategies besides military invasion to effect regime change if the people themself are clamoring for it?
- How should the international community decide which repressive regimes ought to tolerated, which reformed, and which overturned?
- What ought to be the terms of engaging with a fanatically violent non-state entity, operating within states that are unable or unwilling to eliminate it? (Think Boko Haram, the Janjaweed, Mexican drug cartels, etc)
- When a major state power declares war in bad faith - say, the US with Iraq, or Russia in the Crimean Peninsula - what tools ought the international community use to ... can't think of a Poli Sci / International Relations way to put this, but "call them out on their bullshit"?
- Basically: how do you prevent the use of violent force without the credible threat of equally violent force?

As a historian, you'd think Zinn would be in a good position to draw from historical examples to enlighten listeners / readers on the specifics of how we move forward with this intractable problem; unfortunately, in this particular case, Zinn is the tender-hearted hot air bag his worst critics accuse him of being. Yes, the wars initiated by the US government, at the very least since the end of WWII, have largely been self-serving and ideological in nature, but our wars are not the only wars, and as long as there remains even a tiny fraction of people willing to fight them, or any variety of reasons, obtaining a moral majority against the idea of war at all won't be enough to abolish them.

But hey; 3 stars for being a nice, heart-warming speech that I agree with on principle.

[li · Rating 5 out of 5]

ive never heard of this book before but i ran into it at the library and im so glad! i always love howard zinns work & this one was brief but impactful!

[Moira McPartlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little book with a huge subject. This is the transcript of a speech Howard Zinn made to the members of the EMERGENCY organisation. It tells a little bit about his experiences of war and using examples from US history, argues there is no just wars; that all war is for profit and not for the benefit is the citizens of either side. Intelligent and easy to read arguments

[Azzam To'meh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Howard Zinn, as always, is awesome and extremely persuasive and awesome in delivering his facts, setting things straight and giving a more holistic picture of what happens in war. A must-read for all those who admire war, and a great manifesto of what Howard Zinn is all about!

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only wish it was longer. When I bought it I didn't realize that its only 63 pgs long. Although with powerful photos, it is a beautiful book.

[Julia Sienski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Howard zinn feels like a much more accessible version of Noam Chomsky. He has similar political ideologies but writes (or in this case speaks) in a way that’s easier to digest for non-academics. This book captured some of the best arguments against the idea of a just war. Very weird reading about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2005, when they were already seeming to drag on in the eye of the American public. Can’t imagine Zinns opinion of either war has gotten any better since then.

[Patricia]

This book starts on it's subject of war and continues with deep descriptions. As it goes on, it gets even more graphic. I am a 12-year veteran of the US Navy from a family where military service is a tradition.

When I was 17, my first cousin was killed in one of the U.S.'s useless wars: Vietnam. His name appears on the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. I have visited the Morial more than once:

George Merritt Wisham, 2LT/US Army, panel 3North

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very short read. Zinn et. al challenge the idea of a just or good war, using mainly WW2 as an example - describing Ally behavior during and after the war that, if the public had known at the time, would very likely change the public opinion and support of the War. Good read. Sweet and to the point. A good beginner book on the topic, as most of Zinn's books are.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

After a dozen or so pages I found that some of the arguments weren’t the best but I mostly agreed with the premise of the book. His writing definitely improves once he draws on his experiences, however, I wish he cited sources for the crazy statistics (similar statistics were later cited in a great military history class I took, so they are at least based in reality). An example of this is when he states that 93% of the casualties in Afghanistan were civilians and 34% were children under 14. Sources could have really improved this to verify the information, but aside from this, the speech was very well written and I found myself triple underlining many parts toward the end.

There’s no doubt this is worth the short read, although as a historian Zinn should have cited his sources and used footnotes. The fact that he doesn’t use footnotes is putting me off from picking up his book on American history, which is unfortunate because the premise of history centered around the marginalized is of crucial importance and deserves the highest quality research.

[Joshua Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly brisk but worthwhile in that it covers a complete ideology filled with optimism for the human race despite the monstrosities that have been committed.

The way the photography demonstrates atrocity and humanity is visceral. It nails what I look for in nonfiction — it knows the stakes and doesn’t shy away from them.

[Rye · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The government is...to defend everyone's equal right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And when the government does not fulfill that obligation, it is the right of the people, in the words of the Declaration of Independence, to 'alter or abolish' the government."

[Ilaria · Rating 5 out of 5]

A model for the future, for us, for everybody.

[Britton]

war sucks.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best little book on why no war can be a just war any more. Easily read in an hour, as it was a speech made by Zinn in Rome in 2005.

[Cody · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very compelling critique of war- all war. There is no such thing as a just war.