History
by Howard Zinn
Whose story is history?
Most history books follow presidents, generals and business leaders. Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, first published in 1980, retells the country's past from the side of those usually left out (Native Americans, enslaved people, workers, women and protesters). It takes sides, and Zinn says so openly.
Hear a sample · read by Laura
Zinn opens with Columbus's own journal. Columbus praised the Arawaks of the Bahamas as gentle and generous, then wrote that they would make good servants. Zinn follows what came next, forced labour and the collapse of the native population, and faults historians who mention it only in passing.
In 1676 poor white servants and Black slaves in Virginia fought side by side in Bacon's Rebellion. Zinn argues the colony's rulers then worked to split them, giving poor whites small privileges and tying slavery firmly to race. In his telling, racism was encouraged partly to stop the poor uniting.
Following the historian Charles Beard, Zinn argues the men who wrote the Constitution were protecting property, including their own. He points to Shays' Rebellion, a revolt by indebted Massachusetts farmers in 1786, which alarmed the men who met in Philadelphia the next year. Many historians find this view too simple.
Zinn argues that every historian chooses what to leave out, so no history is neutral. He admits his own choices favour the people at the bottom, as a counterweight to the many books that favour those at the top. His critics say he swings too far the other way.
Whose story
Zinn tells American history from the side of the people who usually get left out.
Columbus
He starts with Columbus, and with the Arawak people who were enslaved and killed after he landed.
Choices
Every history picks what to leave out, so no history is neutral.
Divide and rule
After Bacon's Rebellion, Virginia's rich used race to keep poor Black and white people apart.
The Constitution
Zinn argues the Constitution mostly protected the wealth of the men who wrote it.
A story from the book
In the 1830s young women working in the textile mills of Lowell, Massachusetts, walked out on strike when their pay was cut. Zinn uses stories like theirs to argue that working people pushed back again and again, long before trade unions were strong.
Hot take · true or myth?
Zinn believes the Founders wrote the Constitution to serve everyone equally.
Myth. Following the historian Charles Beard, Zinn argues it mainly protected the wealthy, including slaveholders and holders of government bonds. Many historians think that view is too simple.
One thing to try
Pick one event Zinn covers, such as Bacon's Rebellion or the Lowell strikes. Read how an encyclopedia or a school textbook tells it, then how Zinn does. Write down one thing each version leaves out.
Knotd has the key ideas from 250+ non-fiction books, each in a few minutes, in plain words. A People's History of the United States comes with a Hot Take round to make it stick.
Get the whole book on KnotdOpen in the appWhose story is history? Most history books follow presidents, generals and business leaders. Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, first published in 1980, retells the country's past from the side of those usually left out (Native Americans, enslaved people, workers, women and protesters). It takes sides, and Zinn says so openly.
Columbus through Arawak eyes; Drawing the colour line; Whose Constitution?; No history is neutral.
Pick one event Zinn covers, such as Bacon's Rebellion or the Lowell strikes. Read how an encyclopedia or a school textbook tells it, then how Zinn does. Write down one thing each version leaves out.
Yes. Knotd has the key ideas from A People's History of the United States in a few minutes, in plain words, plus a Hot Take round to test them. It's one of 250+ non-fiction books in the app.
