I wrote this for History class.
Howard Zinn, born August 24, 1922, is American Jewish Liberal activist and professor of history. He is best known for his controversial book A People's History of the United States. His “philosophy incorporates ideas from Marxism, anarchism, and socialism” [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Zinn] and has been in involved with the civil rights and anti-war movements in the United States since the 1960’s. In “The Use and Abuse of History”, Zinn talks of how he is not interested in being an “objective” historian and wants to work to change what he views as the injustices in the world. As an honest historian, he should be discussing both sides and not merely teach his left wing point of view.
True objectivity is something lacking in the academic study of history. Historians will usually write the left wing version of an event and present it as a fact rather than attribute it to the people espousing those views. Yet when they write of right wing people, they due to attribute the views to those they are speaking of. An honest historian should be a narrator quoting different views, not choosing one side over the other. Sadly, in mainstream academia today, the dominant trend it to write a left wing history as if speaking in the first person while pretending they are presenting a third person point of view.
Topic: Howard Zinn (Read 2116 times)