Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States and many other books died this week.
Here are references I found to Duluth and Minnesota in “A People’s History of the United States”
When I was reading it as a young college student I gained a new pride in myself and my family when I realized that the stories my Grandpa told us about his struggles in the labor movement actually were really important to a lot of people. They weren’t just the musings of an old man, they were AMERICAN HISTORY! I gave him a copy to read himself and when he died in 1998 I got it back. I reread much of it recently and while today I don’t necessarily regard that book as a totally balanced or even completely accurate telling of history, it is still one of my most cherished possessions.
History from a point of view, what a concept! And at least he admits it’s from a certain point of view and he gives good reason for approaching the subject from that angle. All of the history books I read in grade school and high school before a People’ History of the US neglected to mention they had a bias. And once I became aware of how bias works I saw the world and all of its literature in a totally different way. Forever.
