Howard Zinn was a truly remarkable libertarian socialist historian, and passionate activist. Born in Brooklyn, New York, on the 24th of August, 1922 into a Jewish immigrant family he began his working life as a shipfitter. A strong opponent of fascism Zinn joined the United Air Force in 1943, and during the Second World War flew missions throughout Europe. In April 1945 he was involved in the bombing pf German soldiers in Royan, France where napalm was used, the experience of which taught him to hate war itself. When he returned home he put his medals in an envelope and sealed it with the words “never again.”
After his military service he went to college under the GI bill, earning a doctorate in history at Columbia University. He went on to teaching at Spelman College in Georgia where he was active in the Civil Rights movement. In 1963 he moved to Boston University and became a prominent, outspoken critic of the Vietnam War
He wrote more than twenty books, including his best-selling and influential A People’s History of the United States. a history of America through the perspective of those outside of the political and economic establishment. He was the first historian to write about American history from a perspective of indigenous people, from a perspective of the working class, people who worked in the steel mills, people who worked in the mines, people who worked on the railroads. He told the stories of immigrants, and presented all the rough hands and tortured faces that built the country we know as America. Ordinary people who joined popular struggles for a better society.
In his 2002 autobiography You can't be neutral on a moving Train he wrote the following, reminding me to remain hopeful/ after all hope gets us through the good days and especially the bad ones.Many of us sit in wait of something miraculous to take place and get so very discouraged when all that keeps flowing are disappointments. At the end of the day it is we who are the avenues of change in our own lives :
" There is a tendency to think that what we see in the present moment we will continue to see. We forget how often in this century we have been astonished by the sudden crumbling of institutions, by extraordinary changes in people's thoughts, by unexpected eruptions of rebellion against tyrannies, by the quick collapse of systems of power that seemed invincible.
To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.
What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places -- and there are so many -- where people behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."— Howard Zinn
There was nothing naive or sentimental about Zinn’s positions. He had seen first hand the worst that humanity was capable of, and simply chose to confront it as a challenge rather than accept it as our final destiny. On 27 January 2010, Howard Zinn, died of a heart attack aged 87 after swimming. A great loss to many, he remains a huge inspiration to me.
In this excerpt from the 2004 documentary called Howard Zinn: You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train, Zinn describes his experiences as an Air Force bombadier in World War II, which helped inspire his life’s work. The “great question of our time,” he later wrote, is “how to achieve justice with struggle, but without war.”
You can read Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States online. You can also visit the website dedicated to Zinn’s work, offering a great archive of his articles and interviews, bibliography and video and audio material.
As the legendary activist and author discussed in one of his final interviews, he wanted to be remembered for “introducing a different way of thinking about the world,” and as “somebody who gave people a feeling of hope and power that they didn’t have before.” We need this now more than ever we can't afford to be "neutral on a moving train."
He wrote more than twenty books, including his best-selling and influential A People’s History of the United States. a history of America through the perspective of those outside of the political and economic establishment. He was the first historian to write about American history from a perspective of indigenous people, from a perspective of the working class, people who worked in the steel mills, people who worked in the mines, people who worked on the railroads. He told the stories of immigrants, and presented all the rough hands and tortured faces that built the country we know as America. Ordinary people who joined popular struggles for a better society.
In his 2002 autobiography You can't be neutral on a moving Train he wrote the following, reminding me to remain hopeful/ after all hope gets us through the good days and especially the bad ones.Many of us sit in wait of something miraculous to take place and get so very discouraged when all that keeps flowing are disappointments. At the end of the day it is we who are the avenues of change in our own lives :
" There is a tendency to think that what we see in the present moment we will continue to see. We forget how often in this century we have been astonished by the sudden crumbling of institutions, by extraordinary changes in people's thoughts, by unexpected eruptions of rebellion against tyrannies, by the quick collapse of systems of power that seemed invincible.
To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.
What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places -- and there are so many -- where people behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."— Howard Zinn
There was nothing naive or sentimental about Zinn’s positions. He had seen first hand the worst that humanity was capable of, and simply chose to confront it as a challenge rather than accept it as our final destiny. On 27 January 2010, Howard Zinn, died of a heart attack aged 87 after swimming. A great loss to many, he remains a huge inspiration to me.
In this excerpt from the 2004 documentary called Howard Zinn: You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train, Zinn describes his experiences as an Air Force bombadier in World War II, which helped inspire his life’s work. The “great question of our time,” he later wrote, is “how to achieve justice with struggle, but without war.”
You can read Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States online. You can also visit the website dedicated to Zinn’s work, offering a great archive of his articles and interviews, bibliography and video and audio material.
As the legendary activist and author discussed in one of his final interviews, he wanted to be remembered for “introducing a different way of thinking about the world,” and as “somebody who gave people a feeling of hope and power that they didn’t have before.” We need this now more than ever we can't afford to be "neutral on a moving train."
