Radical History: A Conversation with Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn interviewed by Harry Kreisler. Conversations with History. April 20, 2001.
KREISLER: Let's talk a little about your youth first and then talk about the other things. How specifically do you think your parents shaped your character?
ZINN: The only influence that had in my life was my observation of their lives. My observation that my father was working very hard, of honest hardworking men. My mother working very hard, raising four sons and yet, of course, they had nothing to show for it. That is, they were perfect counterpoints to the Horatio Alger myth that if you work hard in this country you will get somewhere. And I think that that intensified my feeling about the injustice of an economic system in which there are people all over the country like my parents who worked very, very hard had nothing to show for it.
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KREISLER: Let's talk a little about your youth first and then talk about the other things. How specifically do you think your parents shaped your character?
ZINN: The only influence that had in my life was my observation of their lives. My observation that my father was working very hard, of honest hardworking men. My mother working very hard, raising four sons and yet, of course, they had nothing to show for it. That is, they were perfect counterpoints to the Horatio Alger myth that if you work hard in this country you will get somewhere. And I think that that intensified my feeling about the injustice of an economic system in which there are people all over the country like my parents who worked very, very hard had nothing to show for it.
