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Howard Zinn, "Declarations of Independence: Cross-examining American Ideology"

Started July 30 � Finished August 1, 2002; 342 pages. Posted 01 August 2002

Read anything entailing non-fiction and U.S. history and it won�t take long before somebody mentions or references A People�s History of the United States. Hell, you don�t even need to read non-fiction at all, and sooner or later BAM! You�ll hit a reference somewhere. Propagandhi mentions it, it�s referenced in the film Good Will Hunting, and I�ve had instructors bring it up in classes that have nothing to do with American History. In other words, A People�s History of the United States is THE hip book to read.

And yes, I�ve read it. And yes, it is very good. Still though, I don�t know if it was because I was reading it in England whilst smack dab in the middle of a torrid romance with an English bird, or if it was because I was reading that book at the same time that I read A Confederacy of Dunces, which if you think about it, is a pretty interchangeable title for the Zinn book.

But I didn�t think the book was as great as I�d heard. The language was a little dry and some of the examples were a little too remote or hard to follow. In fact, I think James Loewen�s book Lies My Teacher Told Me covers many of the same areas with a better writing style.

That being said, I think this book is infinitely better than A People�s History. In Declarations of Independence, Zinn looks into U.S. Foreign Policy, history, economic injustice, communism, and the nature of warfare, just to name a few areas, but this time around he writes more from personal observations mixed with a bit of history lesson, and the results are much more interesting. While I enjoy non-fiction and cultural criticism, rarely will a book on that subject hold my attention for two hundred pages without stopping. This one did so.

Actually, I think it�s a shame that A People�s History is mentioned so often, but I�ve never seen or heard this book referenced once. One instructor I had at San Jose State offered to reimburse anybody who bought a copy of Zinn�s book, and of course, in check with my luck, I had already bought it and no longer had the receipt so I couldn�t cash in on the deal. I think about six people in the class took him up on the offer. I�m betting that if they did get around to reading it, they weren�t inspired enough to delve further into the matter. I�m also betting if he had suggested this one instead, the reaction would be more positive.


Rating: Worth New!

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