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January 27: Howard Zinn

lawrencebush
January 27, 2011

zinn-howard-cp-8026854Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States and a lifelong radical historian and activist, died on this date in 2010 at age 87. His anti-war politics were informed by his experiences as a bombardier during World War II: “the history of bombing— and no one has bombed more than this nation,” he would write years later, “is a history of endless atrocities, all calmly explained by deceptive and deadly language.” Zinn was a professor of history at Spelman College in Atlanta from 1956 to 1963, where he witnessed and participated in the civil rights movement. In 1964 he joined the faculty at Boston University and remained there for 24 years. Zinn was a pioneering opponent of the Vietnam War and a vociferous critic of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. A People’s History, published in 1980, provided a perspective on American history from the bottom up, as a history of struggle against oppression, racism, and exploitation. The book sells tens of thousands of copies each year.

“There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people for a purpose which is unattainable.” —Howard Zinn