Summary of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States

By IRB Media

Get the Summary of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book.Original book introduction: Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, it is the only volume to tell America's story from the point of view of-and in the words of-America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, the working poor, and immigrant laborers. As Zinn shows, many of our country's greatest battles-the fights for a fair wage, an eight-hour workday, child-labor laws, health and safety standards, universal suffrage, women's rights, racial equality-were carried out at the grassroots level, against bloody resistance.

Covering Christopher Columbus's arrival through President Clinton's first term, A People's History of the United States features insightful analysis of the most important events in our history. This edition also includes an introduction by Anthony Arnove, who wrote, directed, and produced The People Speak with Zinn and who coauthored, with Zinn, Voices of a People's History of the United States.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Feb 21, 2021
• ISBN: 9781638154013

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The history books given to children in the United States all started with the heroic adventure of Christopher Columbus. The truth is that the arrival of the Europeans in the Americas 500 years ago was more of an invasion that resulted in slavery and the genocide of indigenous people.

#2

The quiet acceptance of conquest and murder in the name of progress is only one aspect of a certain approach to history, in which the past is told from the point of view of governments, conquerors, diplomats, and leaders instead of victims.

#3

All this bloodshed and deceit might be acceptable to the middle and upper classes of the conquering countries. To them, it was a necessity for the human race to progress from savagery to civilization. That progress, however, only benefited the privileged and robbed the victims of any sort of freedom.

#4

Columbus and his successors were not coming into an empty wilderness, but into a world where the culture was complex, where human relations were more egalitarian than in Europe, and where relations among men, women, children, and nature were more beautifully worked out than any other place in the world.

Insights from Chapter 2

#1

In Virginia, the settlers couldn’t force Indians to work for them as Columbus had done because they were outnumbered. Moreover, there weren’t enough white servants and the free white settlers were reluctant to work the land. The solution was African