Tuesday, June 3, 2003
Dan Flynn (who's book, "Why the Left Hates America" you can purchase
here) takes a chainsaw to Marxist Professor Howard Zinn's magnum opus, "A People's History of the United States" (get it here). I have Zinn's book on my shelf and read it years ago. Enjoyed it, but I wonder what I'd think of it now, with a few more years, a bit more experience and a bit more mindfullness toward agendas under my belt. Think I should re-read it? Nah...
“Objectivity is impossible,” Zinn once remarked, “and it is also undesirable. That is, if it were possible it would be undesirable, because if you have any kind of a social aim, if you think history should serve society in some way; should serve the progress of the human race; should serve justice in some way, then it requires that you make your selection on the basis of what you think will advance causes of humanity.”
History serving “a social aim” other than the preservation or interpretation of a historical record is precisely what we get in A People’s History of the United States. Howard Zinn’s 776 page tome, which after selling more than a million copies, has been recently re-released in a hardback edition.[...]