Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

Dr. Zinn developed a revisionist history best represented in his celebrated 1980 work "A People's History of the United States."  In this milestone historical work Zinn looked not to the power elite that is emphasized in most contemporary accounts of American history but to average citizens who did remarkable things.  

"People's History" also described the sweeping changes in America achieved through the civil rights movement.  Citizens such as the farmers of the Shays' Rebellion and union activists of the thirties were emphasized in Zinn's classic work.

Unlike the "chicken hawks" of recent vintage who advocated assertive military action in Vietnam and elsewhere but avoided personal service, Howard Zinn served with great distinction in World War Two.  He saw war firsthand, knew its tragic consequences, and advocated peace as an alternative to armed conflict.

Zinn stood alongside Noam Chomsky in recognizing the grave tragedy of the Vietnam War and that the people in that southeast Asian nation posed no military threat to the United States.  He became one of the most articulate opponents of the Vietnam War with his ideological position being ultimately vindicated.

A social activist from America's middle class, Zinn as a professor at Boston University was a cochairman of the strike committee when professors walked out in 1979.  After the strike was settled he and four colleagues were charged with violating their contract when they refused to cross a picket line of striking secretaries.  The charges against "The BU Five" were soon dropped.

On his last day at Boston University Zinn ended class 30 minutes early to join a picket line.  He urged the 500 students attending his lecture to join him and 100 did.

James Carroll, an historian and writer on the Boston Globe's opinion page, called his longtime friend Zinn "one of the greatest Americans of our time" and added, "He will not be replaced -- or soon forgotten.  How we loved him back."

Howard Zinn was a lifelong activist representing grassroots America.  His ideas continue to vitalize the cause of achieving progress and defeating the powers of greed and reaction.