I just finished reading Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States."

by yarnhedgehog

I was wondering what a historian's opinion on this book is. I am looking into American history that is factual and can provide how this nation got to the point where it is today. I liked this book because it talked about many things I haven't learned about in my High School history classes and it really woke me up to the fact that not everything in my Government today is created to help me or its citizens. But I can't shake the feeling that some of the passages in the book are a little extreme and might paint too broad a negative brush on politicians and the actions of the government. I was wondering, has anybody else read this book and what do they think of it? What are some good readings out there about American history I can look over that could paint a clearer picture of what happened? Are there examples of powerful people being benevolent? Is the overall trend of America's political elite really that bad for its citizens?

DBHT14

A pretty commonly brought up topic. I have read it and am not a fan of it, but in part because I was learning very few of the things for the first time, and had had a more balanced exposure to them previously( US involvement in the Russian Civil War for instance).

It is in the FAQ's: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/rzauq/howard_zinn_go/

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/uo4zh/meta_lets_have_a_serious_talk_about_howard_zinn/

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/umph1/im_thinking_of_reading_a_peoples_history_by/

Searocksandtrees

hi! hopefully some of the historians here will weigh in on your specific questions, but meanwhile you can get started on a few previous posts in the FAQ

a few more posts. You find that, like the FAQ, they're all talking about bias and historiography rather than the accuracy of the work, but they may be of interest

8BallTiger

Zinn has a tendency to really let his politics bleed through into his work. I know that pretty much every historian is biased but I believe he is more biased than others. His work is useful in that it forces the reader to think in ways that they may not have before