Zinn for Beginners

Howard Zinn changed the way that history is written: his classic A People's History of the United States, published in the 1980s, told the country's story from the perspective of the colonized, enslaved, and oppressed and threw open the door for the perspectives of ordinary people and marginalized voices to be published and read in the mainstream. This illustrated biography—readable for teens and adults alike—traces Zinn's revolutionary ideas to his experience as a soldier in World War II, and the career he launched as a teacher, activist, and revolutionary writer throughout the most important movements and events of our times, from the Civil Rights Movement to the Vietnam War to 9/11. The first half of the book is a biography; the second half covers Zinn's most important work, showing how he shifted the foundation of how we understand history.