“That, being as blunt as I can, is my approach to the history of the United States.” — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
“There is an underside to every age about which history does not often speak, because history is written from records left by… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
I always emphasize the historic role of people of color in organizing and protesting to achieve justice. — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
History is important. If you don't know history it is as if you were born yesterday. And if you were born yesterday,… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
I suggest that if you know history, then you might not be so easily fooled by the government when it tells you… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
“Even allowing for the imperfection of myths, it is enough to make us question, for that time and ours, the excuse of… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
I wanted to be a part of history and not just a recorder and teacher of history. So that kind of attitude… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
The historian's distortion is more than technical, it is ideological; it is released into a world of contending interest, where any chosen… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
George Orwell said, "Whoever controls the past controls the future," by which he meant that history is incredibly important in shaping the… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
There is no act too small, no act too bold. The history of social change is the history of millions of actions,… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
The chief problem in historical honesty is not outright lying. It is omission or de-emphasis of important data. The definition of 'important',… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
There is a power that can be created out of pent-up indignation, courage, and the inspiration of a common cause, and that… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
To be hopeful in bad times is based on the fact that human history is not only of cruelty, but also of… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
“A historian who studied Boston tax lists in 1687 and 1771 found that in 1687 there were, out of a population of… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
Objectivity is impossible and it is also undesirable. That is, if it were possible it would be undesirable, because if you have… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
I did not know much history when I became a bombardier in the U.S. Air Force in World War II. Only after… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
Throughout American history, the political leaders have always exhorted the American people to be nice and quiet and leave things to them.… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
“My viewpoint, in telling the history of the United States, is different: that we must not accept the memory of states as… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
Nations are not communities and never have been. The history of any country, presented as the history of a family, conceals the… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
“The willingness to undertake such action cannot be based on certainties, but on those possibilities glimpsed in a reading of history different… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
“My point is not that we must, in telling history, accuse, judge, condemn Columbus in absentia. It is too late for that;… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
“The American system is the most ingenious system of control in world history. With a country so rich in natural resources, talent,… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
“TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
“Thus, in that inevitable taking of sides which comes from selection and emphasis in history, I prefer to try to tell the… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
“What struck me as I began to study history was how nationalist fervor--inculcated from childhood on by pledges of allegiance, national anthems,… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
“It is not that the historian can avoid emphasis of some facts and not of others. This is as natural to him… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
“History is the memory of states,' wrote Henry Kissinger in his first book, A World Restored , in which he proceeded to… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
The mountain of history books under which we all stand leans so heavily in the other direction-so tremblingly respectful of states and… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
When I say history is a matter of life and death, I mean this: If you really don't know history, you are… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
“American slavery the most cruel form of slavery in history: the frenzy for limitless profit that comes from capitalistic agriculture; the reduction… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
In the long run, the oppressor is also a victim. In the short run (and so far, human history has consisted only… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
I knew that a historian (or a journalist, or anyone telling a story) was forced to choose, out of an infinite number… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
Let's face a historical truth: we have never had a "free market", we have always had government intervention in the economy, and… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
The function of traditional history is to create a citizenry that looks to the top - the president, Congress, the Supreme Court… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
“If history is to be creative, to anticipate a possible future without denying the past, it should, I believe, emphasize new possibilities… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
History can come in handy. If you were born yesterday, with no knowledge of the past, you might easily accept whatever the… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
If democracy were to be given any meaning, if it were to go beyond the limits of capitalism and nationalism, this would… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
“A black man, Benjamin Banneker, who taught himself mathematics and astronomy, predicted accurately a solar eclipse, and was appointed to plan the new city… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people. — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
“a good education is a synthesis of book learning and involvement in social action, because each enrich the other. The accumulation of knowledge, while… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
The mountain of history books under which we all stand leans so heavily in the other direction-so tremblingly respectful of states and statesmen and… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
Let's face a historical truth: we have never had a "free market", we have always had government intervention in the economy, and indeed that… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
I can UNDERSTAND pessimism, but I don't BELIEVE in it. It's not simply a matter of faith, but of historical EVIDENCE. Not overwhelming evidence,… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it. It is a corrective to the sluggishness of… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
Now I have been studying very closely what happens every day in the courts in Boston, Massachusetts. You would be astounded--maybe you wouldn't, maybe… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
They were not mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, they were absent in the Constitution and they were invisible in the new political democracy.… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
“Sexual purity was to be the special virtue of a woman. It was assumed that men, as a matter of biological nature, would sin,… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
“Middle-class Americans might be invited to join a new elite by attacks against the corruption of the established rich. The New Yorker Cadwallader Colden,… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television - can dominate our ideas, they will… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
