“I'm worried that students will take their obedient place in society and look to become successful cogs in the wheel - let the wheel spin them around as it wants without taking a look at what they're doing. I'm concerned that students not become passive acceptors of the official doctrine that's handed down to them from the White House, the media, textbooks, teachers and preachers.”
- Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn was a historian, political activist, playwright and Boston University University professor, known for his opposition to U.S. imperialism and war. He supported the Civil Rights Movement in the 50's and early 60's, opposed the U.S. war in Vietnam war and the wars and occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Regarding the latter, he wrote, ""There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people for a purpose which is unattainable." He spoke out against the Israeli occupation of Palestine and supported the movement for companies to divest from Israel.
One cannot help but wonder who will take the places of people like Howard Zinn, James Petras, Noam Chomsky and other intellectuals on the left when they die - so important inside and outside academia. It is safe to assume that the administrations of major U.S. universities today vet professors very well for their political stances before hiring them and giving them tenure. It will primarily be those who have awakenings after their appointments who will be able to fill the gaps.
Howard Zinn authored more than 20 books including his best known work, "A People's History of the United States". His objective in writing this textbook was to provide perspectives of American history not being taught in U.S. schools. It was published in 1980 and "routinely sells more than 100,000 copies a year. In "Backlist to the Future", Rachel Donadio described the book:
"The textbook depicts the struggles of Native Americans against European and U.S. conquest and expansion, slaves against slavery, unionists and other workers against capitalists, women against patriarchy, and African-Americans for civil rights.
"In the years since the first edition of A People's History was published in 1980, it has been used as an alternative to standard textbooks in many high school and college history courses, and is one of the most widely known examples of critical pedagogy. According to the New York Times Book Review it "routinely sells more than 100,000 copies a year."
Zinn was a history professor at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia from 1956 to 1963 before teaching history at Boston University where he was professor from 1964 to 1988. He was also Visiting Professor at both the University of Paris and University of Bologna.
He wrote three plays: Emma, based on the life of anarchist and feminist, Emma Goldman; Daughter of Venus, a family drama during the cold war about nuclear disarmament and Marx in Soho, a one-man play on the life of Karl Marx. In the story, Marx is resurrected "to defend humanity from corporatism. In her review, Kathleen Foley wrote that the play, "mounts a clarion defense of the principles of Marxism, while taking a timely jab at a consumerist culture run amok.... Zinn's indignation oozes through the levity, and Marx's own words remind us that capitalism without conscience (sic) is a recipe for revolution."
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