Howard Zinn, RIP

You may have heard or read elsewhere that the noted historian Howard Zinn passed away earlier this week. Zinn had a long career and often sparked controversy with his work, as he didn't shy away from offering critical appraisals of certain aspects of American history, especially in relation to the wars we've fought. This block, I assigned my class to read his recent People's History of American Empire and we've devoted considerable time to fact-checking his many assertions. So, far none of my students have found anything substantially wrong with Zinn's facts or interpretations, which speaks to his diligence as a scholar, regardless of what one might think of his politics. I frankly wish more of our so-called public intellectuals displayed even a fraction of Zinn's integrity, erudition, and compassion; but based on the evidence of most television and radio news programming, we'd rather listen to blowhards yell at each other. Here's a video (including words and artwork from the book mentioned above) with an outline of Zinn's perspective on the history of American foreign policy. It's well worth a look: