The Summer 2017 issue of Bostonia, the Boston University alumni magazine, features a profile of Zinn Education Project co-founder William Holtzman and the recent book drive undertaken in response to a proposed Zinn book ban in Arkansas.
On March 1, 2017, Arkansas Representative Kim Hendren (R) introduced Bill HB1834 to prohibit any publicly supported schools in Arkansas “from including in its curriculum or course materials any books or other material authored by or concerning Howard Zinn.”
In a Washington Post article on February 9, 2017, Fareed Zakaria compared Steve Bannon and Howard Zinn, concluding that, "In a strange way, Bannon’s dark, dystopian view of U.S. history is closest to that of Howard Zinn, a popular far-left scholar whose 'A People’s History of the United States' is a tale of the many ways in which 99 percent of Americans were crushed by the country’s all-powerful elites. In the Zinn/Bannon worldview, everyday people are simply pawns manipulated by their evil overlords." In response, two letters to the editor of the Washington Post were sent. The authors have given us permission to publish them here.
Source: WNYC Radio
Recorded in the 1960s (estimate 1964-1965 based on transcript), Patricia Marx sits down with historian Howard Zinn to discuss his books, SNCC: The New Abolitionists and The Southern Mystique. Zinn describes his experiences teaching at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1956 to 1963, and his subsequent observations on racial prejudice in the southern United States.
The third annual Howard Zinn Book Fair was held in San Francisco on December 4, 2016. Historian Carl Mirra shared with us a description of one of the sessions at the book fair. Mirra describes the panel “Making of a Radical Historian: Howard Zinn & War” where he was one of the presenters along with Ambre Ivol and Luke Stewart.
Today (December 7) is the birthday of Howard Zinn’s longtime friend Noam Chomsky. In celebration, we share this interview with David Barsamian (DB) of Alternative Radio about how they met. Excerpted from The Future of History, Zinn discusses Chomsky’s popularity, “His message has been so powerful and so outrageously true and so backed up by information and so very often ahead of everybody else.”…
On Nov. 25, 1986, 60 people—including Amy Carter and Abbie Hoffman—were arraigned on charges of disorderly conduct stemming from a sit-in to block CIA campus recruiting at University of Massachusetts-Amherst, an act of protest of the CIA’s role in Central America.…
By Howard Zinn • Excerpted from The Zinn Reader
The political culture of the United States is dominated by voting. Every election year is accompanied by an enormous amount of attention, with the media and the politicians joining forces to try to persuade Americans that voting for one candidate or another is the most important act of citizenship. I decided to challenge that idea in this column, which appeared in the Boston Globe at the start of the election campaign of 1976.
We revisit Howard Zinn's essay, "If History Is to Be Creative," a reflection on the role and responsibility of the engaged historian, and is an inspiration for us all to continue the fight for justice. Zinn writes, "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 to 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."
June 27 marks the birth of Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869–May 14, 1940), an anarchist who was an early advocate of free speech, birth control, women's equality and independence, and unions. After reading Richard Drinnon's biography of Emma Goldman, Rebel in Paradise, Howard Zinn read Goldman's autobiography, Living My Life. As a historian with a PhD, he was astonished he had never learned about Goldman in his studies. "Here was this magnificent woman, this anarchist, this feminist, fierce, life-loving person."
Articles & Interviews
‘Bringing Zinn to Class’: Bostonia Features Zinn Education Project Cofounder and Arkansas Book Drive
Posted: July 14, 2017 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles about Howard Zinn, In the News, News Tags: Boston University, Education, In the News, Zinn Education Project
Arkansas Bill Attempts to Ban Howard Zinn Books
Posted: March 22, 2017 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles about Howard Zinn, In the News, News Tags: Book Ban, Zinn Education Project
Letters Refute Fareed Zakaria’s Claim: ‘Bannon’s view closest to Howard Zinn’
Posted: March 7, 2017 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles about Howard Zinn, In the News, News
Howard Zinn: How Racial Prejudice Can Change
Posted: January 19, 2017 by Howard Zinn Website
Source: WNYC Radio
Recorded in the 1960s (estimate 1964-1965 based on transcript), Patricia Marx sits down with historian Howard Zinn to discuss his books, SNCC: The New Abolitionists and The Southern Mystique. Zinn describes his experiences teaching at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1956 to 1963, and his subsequent observations on racial prejudice in the southern United States.Category: Articles & Interviews, Audio & Video, Audio and Video with Howard Zinn, Audio With Howard Zinn, From the Archives, Interviews With Howard Zinn Tags: Civil Rights Movement, In the South, Spelman College
2016 Howard Zinn Book Fair
Posted: January 19, 2017 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles about Howard Zinn, News Tags: Events
When Zinn and Chomsky Met
Posted: December 7, 2016 by Howard Zinn Website
Today (December 7) is the birthday of Howard Zinn’s longtime friend Noam Chomsky. In celebration, we share this interview with David Barsamian (DB) of Alternative Radio about how they met. Excerpted from The Future of History, Zinn discusses Chomsky’s popularity, “His message has been so powerful and so outrageously true and so backed up by information and so very often ahead of everybody else.”…
Category: Articles & Interviews, Excerpts, Interviews With Howard Zinn Tags: Noam Chomsky
Zinn Testifies at the Trial of CIA Protesters
Posted: November 25, 2016 by Howard Zinn Website
On Nov. 25, 1986, 60 people—including Amy Carter and Abbie Hoffman—were arraigned on charges of disorderly conduct stemming from a sit-in to block CIA campus recruiting at University of Massachusetts-Amherst, an act of protest of the CIA’s role in Central America.…
Category: Articles about Howard Zinn, Excerpts Tags: Civil Disobedience, Testimony
Beyond Voting
Posted: October 19, 2016 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn Tags: Democracy, Elections, Politics, Presidents
If History Is to Be Creative
Posted: August 11, 2016 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn, Excerpts, News Tags: Possibility, The Progressive
Commemorating Emma Goldman: ‘Living My Life’
Posted: June 14, 2016 by Howard Zinn Website
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles about Howard Zinn, News Tags: Emma Goldman, Excerpts, Haymarket Affair, Labor