View source for Biography:Howard Zinn

{{Short description|American historian and socialist thinker (1922–2010)}}
{{Infobox academic
| name = Howard Zinn
| image = Howard Zinn, 2009 (cropped).jpg
| caption = Zinn in 2009
| birth_place = New York City, New York, U.S.
| death_date = {{nowrap|{{death date and age|2010|01|27|1922|08|24}}}}
| death_place = Santa Monica, California, U.S.
| occupation = Historian, educator, author, playwright
| region = 
| nationality = 
| citizenship = 
| residence = 
| other_names = 
| period = 
| title = 
| boards = <!--board or similar positions extraneous to main occupation-->
| education = [[Organization:New York University|New York University]] (BA)<br />[[Organization:Columbia University|Columbia University]] (MA, PhD)
| spouse = {{marriage|Roslyn Shechter|1944|2008|end = died}}
| children = 2, including Jeff
| parents = 
| relatives = 
| awards = <!--notable national level awards only-->
| website = 
| thesis_title = Fiorello LaGuardia in Congress
| thesis_url = https://www.proquest.com/openview/6ec36a714c32fef8ef90fc66474e0bca/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
| thesis_year = 1958
| school_tradition = 
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| influences = <!--must be referenced from a third party source-->
| era = 
| discipline = <!--major academic discipline – e.g. Physicist, Sociologist, New Testament scholar, Ancient Near Eastern Linguist-->
| sub_discipline = <!--academic discipline specialist area – e.g. Sub-atomic research, 20th Century Danish specialist, Pauline research, Arcadian and Ugaritic specialist-->
| workplaces = [[Organization:Spelman College|Spelman College]] <br /> [[Organization:Boston University|Boston University]]
| known_for = 
| doctoral_students = <!--only those with WP articles-->
| notable_students = <!--only those with WP articles-->
| main_interests = Civil rights, war and peace
| notable_works = 
| notable_ideas = 
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| signature = 
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| module = {{Infobox military person
   |embed        = yes
   |embed_title  = 
   |allegiance   = United States
   |branch       = U.S. Army Air Forces
   |serviceyears = 1941–1945
   |rank         = Lieutenant
   |website      = 
  }}
}}
'''Howard Zinn''' (August 24, 1922{{spaced ndash}}January 27, 2010)<ref>{{Cite web |title=HowardZinn.org |url=https://www.howardzinn.org/ |access-date=2022-03-13 |website=HowardZinn.org |language=en}}</ref> was an American historian, playwright, philosopher, socialist intellectual and World War II veteran. He was chair of the history and social sciences department at [[Organization:Spelman College|Spelman College]],<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/youcantbeneutral00zinn|title=You can't be neutral on a moving train : a personal history of our times|last=Zinn|first= Howard|isbn=9780807071274|location=Boston|oclc=50704670|year=1994}}</ref> and a political science professor at [[Organization:Boston University|Boston University]]. Zinn wrote over 20 books, including his best-selling and influential ''A People's History of the United States'' in 1980. In 2007, he published a version of it for younger readers, ''A Young People's History of the United States''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/us/29zinn.html|title=Howard Zinn, Historian, Is Dead at 87|website=The New York Times|date=January 28, 2010 |access-date=January 28, 2010|last1=Powell |first1=Michael }}</ref>

Zinn described himself as "something of an anarchist, something of a socialist. Maybe a democratic socialist."<ref name="flag.blackened.net">{{cite journal| url= http://flag.blackened.net/ias/13zinn.htm |title= War is the Health of the State: An Interview with Howard Zinn| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20100201232548/http://flag.blackened.net/ias/13zinn.htm |archivedate=2010-02-01| first1= Paul| last1= Glavin | first2= Chuck| last2= Morse| journal= Perspectives on Anarchist Theory| volume= 7| number= 1| date= Spring 2003}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">{{YouTube|VJ9UChMSJPU|Howard Zinn on Democratic Socialism}}</ref> He wrote extensively about the civil rights movement, the anti-war movement and labor history of the United States. His memoir, ''You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train'' (Beacon Press, 1994), was also the title of a 2004 documentary about Zinn's life and work. Zinn died of a heart attack in 2010, at age 87.<ref name="HP">{{cite news| url= https://huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/27/howard-zinn-dead-author-o_n_439350.html| title= Howard Zinn Dead, Author Of 'People's History Of The United States' Died At 87| first= Hillel| last= Italie| work= The Huffington Post| date= January 27, 2010| access-date= | archive-date= March 3, 2016| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160303223148/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/27/howard-zinn-dead-author-o_n_439350.html| url-status= dead}}</ref>

==Early life==
Zinn was born to a Jewish immigrant family in Brooklyn, New York City, on August 24, 1922. His father, Eddie Zinn, born in [[Place:Austria-Hungary|Austria-Hungary]], immigrated to the US with his brother Samuel before the outbreak of [[Social:World War I|World War I]]. His mother, Jenny (Rabinowitz) Zinn,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.danjianbaowang.com/xiaomowenzhang/44933.html|title=Howard Zinn|access-date=2017-08-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019164932/http://www.danjianbaowang.com/xiaomowenzhang/44933.html|archive-date=2017-10-19|url-status=dead}}</ref> emigrated from the Eastern Siberian city of Irkutsk. His parents first became acquainted as workers at the same factory.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=http://howardzinn.org/about/biography/|title=Biography |website=HowardZinn.org|language=en-US|access-date=2016-03-03}}</ref> During the [[Finance:Great Depression|Great Depression]], his father worked as a ditch digger and window cleaner, and for a brief time, his parents ran a neighborhood candy store, barely getting by. For many years, Zinn's father was in the waiters' union and worked as a waiter for weddings and bar mitzvahs.<ref name="auto"/>

Both parents were factory workers with limited education when they met and married, and there were no books or magazines in the series of apartments where they raised their children. Zinn's parents introduced him to literature by sending 10 cents plus a coupon to ''The New York Post'' for each of the 20 volumes of [[Biography:Charles Dickens|Charles Dickens]]' collected works.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.howardzinn.org/about/biography/|title=Biography |website=HowardZinn.org}}</ref> As a young man, Zinn made the acquaintance of several young Communists from his Brooklyn neighborhood. They invited him to a political rally being held in Times Square. Despite it being a peaceful rally, mounted police charged the marchers. Zinn was hit and knocked unconscious. This would have a profound effect on his political and social outlook.<ref name="auto"/>

Howard Zinn studied creative writing at Thomas Jefferson High School in a special program established by principal and poet Elias Lieberman.<ref name= "EdUpdate2004">{{cite web|url=http://www.educationupdate.com/archives/2004/apr04/issue/col_howardzinn.html|title=Education Update - Howard Zinn:-Chronicling Lives from Spelman College to Boston U.| website= Educationupdate.com|access-date=2020-04-07}}</ref>

Zinn initially opposed entry into [[Social:World War II|World War II]], influenced by his friends, by the results of the Nye Committee, and by his ongoing reading. However, these feelings shifted as he learned more about fascism and its rise in Europe. The book ''Sawdust Caesar'' had a particularly large impact through its depiction of Mussolini. Thus, after graduating from high school in 1940, Zinn took the Civil Service exam and became an apprentice [[Engineering:Shipfitter|shipfitter]] in the New York Navy Yard at the age of 18.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Duberman |first1=Martin |title=Howard Zinn: a life on the left |date=2012 |publisher=New Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3331mAEACAAJ|isbn=9781595586780 |pages=9–10| access-date=3 April 2020}}</ref>

Concerns about low wages and hazardous working conditions compelled Zinn and several other apprentices to form the Apprentice Association. At the time, apprentices were excluded from trade unions and thus had little bargaining power, to which the Apprentice Association was their answer.<ref name="auto"/> The head organizers of the association, which included Zinn himself, would meet once a week outside of work to discuss strategy and read books that at the time were considered radical. Zinn was the Activities Director for the group. His time in this group would tremendously influence his political views and created for him an appreciation for unions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://howardzinn.org/howard-zinn-describes-work-in-the-navy-yards/|title=Howard Zinn Describes Work in the Navy Yards {{!}} HowardZinn.org|website=HowardZinn.org|date=8 December 2008|language=en-US|access-date=2016-03-03}}</ref>

===World War II===
Eager to fight [[Social:Fascism|fascism]], Zinn joined the United States Army Air Corps during World War II and became an officer. He was assigned as a bombardier in the 490th Bombardment Group,<ref>''The Politics of History'' 2nd ed. by Howard Zinn (University of Illinois Press, 1990) pp. 258–274) {{ISBN|978-0-252-01673-8}}.</ref> bombing targets in [[Place:Berlin|Berlin]], [[Place:Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovakia]], and Hungary.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.citylights.com/resources/titles/87286100167600/extras/thebombexcerptcl.pdf |archive-url= https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.citylights.com/resources/titles/87286100167600/extras/thebombexcerptcl.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=The Bomb|website=Citylights.com|access-date=2010-01-28}}</ref> As bombardier, Zinn dropped [[Engineering:Napalm|napalm]] bombs in April 1945 on Royan, a seaside resort in western France.<ref>{{cite book |last=Zinn |first=Howard |title=Declarations of Independence |url=https://archive.org/details/declarationsofin00zinn |url-access=registration |year=1990 |publisher=HarperPerennial |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-06-092108-8}}</ref> The anti-war stance Zinn developed later was informed, in part, by his experiences.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.c-royan.com/histoire/histoire-contemporaine/les-guerres/1576-la-liberation-de-royan-avril-1945.html|title=La Libération de Royan avril 1945|website=C-royan.com|access-date=2020-04-07}}</ref>

On a post-doctoral research mission nine years later, Zinn visited the resort near [[Earth:Bordeaux|Bordeaux]] where he interviewed residents, reviewed municipal documents, and read wartime newspaper clippings at the local library. In 1966, Zinn returned to Royan after which he gave his fullest account of that research in his book, ''The Politics of History''. On the ground, Zinn learned that the aerial bombing attacks in which he participated had killed more than a thousand French civilians as well as some German soldiers hiding near Royan to await the war's end, events that are described "in all accounts" he found as ''"une tragique erreur"'' that leveled a small but ancient city and "its population that was, at least officially, friend, not foe." In ''The Politics of History'', Zinn described how the bombing was ordered—three weeks before the war in Europe ended—by military officials who were, in part, motivated more by the desire for their own career advancement than in legitimate military objectives. He quotes the official history of the U.S. Army Air Forces' brief reference to the Eighth Air Force attack on Royan and also, in the same chapter, to the bombing of Plzeň in what was then [[Place:Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovakia]]. The official history stated that the Skoda works in Pilsen "received 500 well-placed tons", and that "because of a warning sent out ahead of time the workers were able to escape, except for five persons. "The Americans received a rapturous welcome when they liberated the city.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dspace5.zcu.cz/bitstream/11025/11417/1/Misterova.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://dspace5.zcu.cz/bitstream/11025/11417/1/Misterova.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=The Reception of the Presence of the U.S. Army in Pilsen in 1945 in Local Periodicals |website=Dspace5.zcu.cz |access-date=2020-04-07}}</ref>

Zinn wrote:<blockquote>I recalled flying on that mission, too, as deputy lead bombardier, and that we did not aim specifically at the 'Skoda works' (which I would have noted, because it was the one target in Czechoslovakia I had read about) but dropped our bombs, without much precision, on the city of Pilsen. Two Czech citizens who lived in Pilsen at the time told me, recently, that several hundred people were killed in that raid (that is, Czechs)—not five.<ref>''The Politics of History'' p. 260.</ref></blockquote>

Zinn said his experience as a wartime bombardier, combined with his research into the reasons for, and effects of the bombing of Royan and Pilsen, sensitized him to the ethical dilemmas faced by G.I.s during wartime.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://progressive.org/mag_zinn0106 |title=Interview with Zinn |website=Progressive.org |date=January 2006 |access-date=2010-01-28}}</ref> Zinn questioned the justifications for military operations that inflicted massive civilian casualties during the Allied bombing of cities such as Dresden, Royan, Tokyo, and Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II, [[Place:Hanoi|Hanoi]] during the War in Vietnam, and [[Place:Baghdad|Baghdad]] during the war in Iraq and the civilian casualties during bombings in Afghanistan during the war there. In his pamphlet, ''Hiroshima: Breaking the Silence''<ref>{{citation|url=http://polymer.bu.edu/~amaral/Personal/zinn.html |title=Hiroshima: Breaking the Silence |first= Howard |last= Zinn |access-date=2008-01-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725072904/http://polymer.bu.edu/~amaral/Personal/zinn.html |archive-date=July 25, 2008 |publisher= published online at polymer.bu.edu}}</ref> written in 1995, he laid out the case against targeting civilians with aerial bombing.

Six years later, he wrote:<blockquote>Recall that in the midst of the Gulf War, the U.S. military bombed an air raid shelter, killing 400 to 500 men, women, and children who were huddled to escape bombs. The claim was that it was a military target, housing a communications center, but reporters going through the ruins immediately afterward said there was no sign of anything like that. I suggest that the history of bombing—and no one has bombed more than this nation—is a history of endless atrocities, all calmly explained by deceptive and deadly language like "accident", "military target", and "[[Social:Collateral damage|collateral damage]]".<ref>{{cite web |last=Zinn |first=Howard |url=http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/28-7 |title= A Just Cause, Not a Just War| work= The Progressive| date= December 2001 |publisher= republished online at Commondreams.org |access-date=2012-03-05 |archive-date=2012-10-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007045944/http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/28-7 |url-status=dead }}</ref></blockquote>

===Education===
After World War II, Zinn attended [[Organization:New York University|New York University]] on the GI Bill, graduating with a B.A. in 1951. At [[Organization:Columbia University|Columbia University]], he earned an M.A. (1952) and a Ph.D. in history with a minor in political science (1958). His master's thesis examined the Colorado coal strikes of 1914.<ref name="EdUpdate2004"/> His doctoral dissertation ''Fiorello LaGuardia in Congress'' was a study of Fiorello La Guardia's congressional career, and it depicted "the conscience of the twenties" as LaGuardia fought for public power, the right to strike, and the redistribution of wealth by taxation. "His specific legislative program," Zinn wrote, "was an astonishingly accurate preview of the New Deal." It was published by the [[Organization:Cornell University|Cornell University]] Press for the American Historical Association. ''Fiorello LaGuardia in Congress'' was nominated for the American Historical Association's Beveridge Prize as the best English-language book on American history.<ref>{{cite news| url= https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/us/29zinn.html|title=Howard Zinn, Historian, Is Dead at 87|date=29 January 2010|newspaper={{wipe|The New York Times}}}}</ref>

His professors at Columbia included Harry Carman, Henry Steele Commager, and David Donald.<ref name="EdUpdate2004"/> But it was Columbia historian [[Biography:Richard Hofstadter|Richard Hofstadter]]'s ''The American Political Tradition'' that made the most lasting impression. Zinn regularly included it in his lists of recommended readings, and, after [[Biography:Barack Obama|Barack Obama]] was elected President of the United States, Zinn wrote, "If Richard Hofstadter were adding to his book ''The American Political Tradition'', in which he found both 'conservative' and 'liberal' Presidents, both Democrats and Republicans, maintaining for dear life the two critical characteristics of the American system, nationalism and capitalism, Obama would fit the pattern."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://socialistworker.org/2008/11/05/what-next-for-the-struggle|title=What next for struggle in the Obama era?|website=SocialistWorker.org|access-date=2020-04-07}}</ref>

In 1960–61, Zinn was a post-doctoral fellow in East Asian Studies at [[Organization:Harvard University|Harvard University]].

==Career==
===Academic career===
{{Quote box
| quote = "We were not born critical of existing society. There was a moment in our lives (or a month, or a year) when certain facts appeared before us, startled us, and then caused us to question beliefs that were strongly fixed in our consciousness – embedded there by years of family prejudices, orthodox schooling, imbibing of newspapers, radio, and television. This would seem to lead to a simple conclusion: that we all have an enormous responsibility to bring to the attention of others information they do not have, which has the potential of causing them to rethink long-held ideas."<ref name="Zinn-05">{{cite web | last=Zinn | first=Howard | title=Changing minds, one at a time | publisher=The Progressive | url=https://progressive.org/%3Fq%3Dnode/5555/|date=March 1, 2005 | access-date=April 15, 2020}}</ref>
| source = — Howard Zinn, 2005
| align = right
| width = 35%
 }}

Zinn was professor of history at [[Organization:Spelman College|Spelman College]] in Atlanta from 1956 to 1963, and visiting professor at both the [[Organization:University of Paris|University of Paris]] and [[Organization:University of Bologna|University of Bologna]]. At the end of the academic year in 1963, Zinn was fired from Spelman for insubordination.<ref>{{cite book|author=Martin Duberman|title=Howard Zinn: A Life on the Left|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VCqmA95DdNkC&pg=PA199|year=2012|publisher=New Press|isbn=9781595588401}}</ref> His dismissal came from Albert Manley, the first African-American president of that college, who felt Zinn was radicalizing Spelman students.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Zinn for Beginners|last=Cogswell|first=David|publisher=For Beginners LLC|year=2009|isbn=978-1-934389-40-9|page=43}}</ref>

In 1964, he accepted a position at [[Organization:Boston University|Boston University]] (BU), after writing two books and participating in the Civil Rights Movement in the South. His classes in [[Philosophy:Civil liberties|civil liberties]] were among the most popular at the university with as many as 400 students subscribing each semester to the non-required class. A professor of political science, he taught at BU for 24 years and retired in 1988 at age 66.

"He had a deep sense of fairness and justice for the underdog. But he always kept his sense of humor. He was a happy warrior," said Caryl Rivers, journalism professor at BU. Rivers and Zinn were among a group of faculty members who in 1979 defended the right of the school's clerical workers to strike and were threatened with dismissal after refusing to cross a picket line.<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60R5D020100128 Activist, historian Howard Zinn dies at 87] by Ros Krasny at {{wipe|Reuters}} January 28, 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-09.</ref>

Zinn came to believe that the point of view expressed in traditional history books was often limited. Biographer Martin Duberman noted that when he was asked directly if he was a Marxist, Zinn replied, "Yes, I'm something of a Marxist." He especially was influenced by the liberating vision of the young Marx in overcoming alienation, and disliked what he perceived to be Marx's later dogmatism. In later life he moved more toward [[Social:Anarchism|anarchism]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Martin Duberman|title=Howard Zinn: A Life on the Left|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VCqmA95DdNkC&pg=PA199|year=2012|publisher=New Press|page=199|isbn=9781595588401}}</ref>

He wrote a history text, ''A People's History of the United States'', to provide other perspectives on American history. The book depicts the struggles of Native Americans against European and U.S. conquest and expansion, slaves against [[Social:Slavery|slavery]], unionists and other workers against capitalists, women against [[Biology:Patriarchy|patriarchy]], and African-Americans for civil rights. The book was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1981.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1981#.WYDLyceGOUk|title=National Book Awards 1981 - National Book Foundation|website=Nationalbook.org}}</ref>
In the years since the first publication of ''A People's History'' in 1980, it has been used as an alternative to standard textbooks in many college history courses, and it is one of the most widely known examples of [[Philosophy:Critical pedagogy|critical pedagogy]]. The ''New York Times Book Review'' stated in 2006 that the book "routinely sells more than 100,000 copies a year."<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/books/review/30donadio.html "Backlist to the Future"] by Rachel Donadio, July 30, 2006.</ref>

In 2004, Zinn published ''Voices of a People's History of the United States'' with Anthony Arnove. ''Voices'' is a sourcebook of speeches, articles, essays, poetry and song lyrics by the people themselves whose stories are told in ''A People's History.''

In 2008, the Zinn Education Project was launched to support educators using ''A People's History of the United States'' as a source for middle and high school history. The project was started when William Holtzman, a former student of Zinn who wanted to bring Zinn's lessons to students around the country, provided the financial backing to allow two other organizations, Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change to coordinate the project. The project hosts a website with hundreds of free downloadable lesson plans to complement ''A People's History of the United States''.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|url=https://www.zinnedproject.org/about/|title=About the Zinn Education Project|website=Zinn Education Project|access-date=30 April 2020}}</ref>

''The People Speak'', released in 2010, is a documentary movie based on ''A People's History of the United States'' and inspired by the lives of ordinary people who fought back against oppressive conditions over the course of the history of the United States. The film, narrated by Zinn, includes performances by Matt Damon, Morgan Freeman, [[Biography:Bob Dylan|Bob Dylan]], Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder, Viggo Mortensen, Josh Brolin, Danny Glover, Marisa Tomei, Don Cheadle, and Sandra Oh.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bu.edu/today/2009/11/03/people-s-history-moves-small-screen |title=People's history moves small screen |website=Bu.edu |date=2009-11-04 |access-date=2010-01-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100117170720/http://www.bu.edu/today/2009/11/03/people-s-history-moves-small-screen |archive-date=2010-01-17 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.howardzinn.org/related-projects/the-people-speak/|title=The People Speak|website=Howardzinn.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216180615/http://www.howardzinn.org/related-projects/the-people-speak/|archive-date=2017-02-16|url-status=dead|access-date=2017-07-21}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://zinnedproject.org/materials/people-speak-extended-edition-contents/|title=The People Speak – Extended Edition: Contents|newspaper=Zinn Education Project}}</ref>

===Civil rights movement===
From 1956 through 1963, Zinn chaired the Department of History and Social Sciences at [[Organization:Spelman College|Spelman College]]. He participated in the Civil Rights Movement and lobbied with historian August Meier<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/100greatestameri0000drei|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/100greatestameri0000drei/page/326 326]|quote=Howard Zinn participated in the Civil Rights Movement and lobbied with historian August Meier.|title=The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century: A Social Justice Hall of Fame|publisher=PublicAffairs|date=2012-06-26|isbn=9781568586816|last1=Dreier|first1=Peter}}</ref> "to end the practice of the Southern Historical Association of holding meetings at [[Social:Racial segregation|segregated]] hotels."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/september-2003/in-memoriam-august-a-meier|title=In Memoriam: August A. Meier|date=September 2003|author=David Levering Lewis|publisher=American Historical Association}}</ref>

While at Spelman, Zinn served as an adviser to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and wrote about sit-ins and other actions by SNCC for ''The Nation'' and ''Harper's''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Carol Polsgrove|title=Divided Minds: Intellectuals and the Civil Rights Movement|year=2001|pages=115, 196}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=In Memory: Howard Zinn and the Civil Rights Movement|work=Carol Polsgrove on Writers' Lives|url=http://carolpolsgrove.com/issue-2-winter-2010/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100701012607/http://carolpolsgrove.com/issue-2-winter-2010/|archive-date=2010-07-01|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1964, Beacon Press published his book ''SNCC: The New Abolitionists''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://carolpolsgrove.com/issue-2-winter-2010/|author=Carol Polsgrove|title=Divided Minds|page=238|access-date=2017-08-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710011155/https://carolpolsgrove.com/issue-2-winter-2010/|archive-date=2017-07-10|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1964 Zinn, with the SNCC, began developing an educational program so that the 200 volunteer SNCC civil rights workers in the South, many of whom were college dropouts, could continue with their civil rights work and at the same time be involved in an educational system. Up until then many of the volunteers had been dropping out of school so they could continue their work with SNCC. Other volunteers had not spent much time in college. The program had been endorsed by the SNCC in December 1963 and was envisioned by Zinn as having a curriculum that ranged from novels to books about "major currents" in 20th-century world history, such as fascism, communism, and anti-colonial movements. This occurred while Zinn was in Boston.<ref name="Martin Duberman 2012 98">{{cite book|author=Martin Duberman|title=Howard Zinn: A Life on the Left|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VCqmA95DdNkC&pg=PA199|year=2012|publisher=New Press|page=98|isbn=9781595588401|via=Google Books}}</ref>

Zinn also attended an assortment of SNCC meetings in 1964, traveling back and forth from Boston. One of those trips was to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in January 1964 to participate in a SNCC voter registration drive. The local newspaper, the ''Hattiesburg American'', described the SNCC volunteers in town for the voter registration drive as "outside agitators" and told local blacks "to ignore whatever goes on, and interfere in no way..." At a mass meeting held during the visit to Hattiesburg, Zinn and another SNCC representative, Ella Baker, emphasized the risks that went along with their efforts, a subject probably in their minds since a well-known civil rights activist, Medgar Evers, had been murdered getting out of his car in the driveway of his home in Jackson, Mississippi, only six months earlier. Evers had been the state field secretary for the NAACP.<ref name="Martin Duberman 2012 98"/>

Zinn was also involved in what became known as Freedom Summer in Mississippi in the summer of 1964. Freedom Summer involved bringing 1,000 college students to Mississippi to work for the summer in various roles as civil rights activists. Part of the program involved organizing "Freedom Schools". Zinn's involvement included helping to develop the curriculum for the Freedom Schools. He was also concerned that bringing 1,000 college students to Mississippi to work as civil rights activists could lead to violence and killings. As a consequence, Zinn recommended approaching Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett and President Lyndon Johnson to request protection for the young civil rights volunteers. Protection was not forthcoming. Planning for the summer went forward under the umbrella of the SNCC, the Congress of Racial Equality ("CORE") and the Council of Federated Organizations ("COFO").<ref name="Martin Duberman 2012 99–100">{{cite book|author=Martin Duberman|title=Howard Zinn: A Life on the Left|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VCqmA95DdNkC&pg=PA199|year=2012|publisher=New Press|pages=99–100|isbn=9781595588401}}</ref>

On June 20, 1964, just as civil rights activists were beginning to arrive in Mississippi, CORE activists James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were en route to investigate the burning of Mount Zion Methodist Church in Neshoba County when two carloads of KKK members led by deputy sheriff Cecil Price abducted and murdered them.<ref name="Martin Duberman 2012 99–100"/> Two months later, after their bodies were located, Zinn and other representatives of the SNCC attended a memorial service for the three at the ruins of Mount Zion Methodist Church.<ref>{{cite book|author=Martin Duberman|title=Howard Zinn: A Life on the Left|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VCqmA95DdNkC&pg=PA199|year=2012|publisher=New Press|pages=101–102|isbn=9781595588401}}</ref>

Zinn collaborated with historian Staughton Lynd mentoring student activists, among them Alice Walker,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2010/01/31/alice_walker_says_goodbye_to_her_friend_howard_zinn/|title=Alice Walker says goodbye to her friend Howard Zinn|website=The Boston Globe|date=January 31, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100324201721/http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2010/01/31/alice_walker_says_goodbye_to_her_friend_howard_zinn/?page=full|archive-date=March 24, 2010|url-status=live|access-date=November 20, 2021}}</ref> who would later write ''The Color Purple,'' and Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund. Edelman identified Zinn as a major influence in her life and, in the same journal article, tells of his accompanying students to a sit-in at the segregated white section of the Georgia state legislature.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Edelman|first=Marian Wright|year=2000|title=Spelman College: A Safe Haven for a Young Black Woman|journal=The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education|issue=27 (Spring, 2000)|pages=118–123|jstor=2679028|doi=10.2307/2679028}}</ref> Zinn also co-wrote a column in ''The Boston Globe'' with fellow activist Eric Mann, "Left Field Stands".<ref>{{cite book|last=Zinn|first=Howard|title=Declarations of Independence: Cross-Examining American Ideology|publisher=Perennial|date=1991|pages=175–176|isbn=978-0060921088}}</ref>

Although Zinn was a tenured professor, he was dismissed in June 1963 after siding with students in the struggle against segregation. As Zinn described<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/finishing-school-pickets/|title=Finishing School for Pickets|first=Howard|last=Zinn|date=December 22, 2009|work=thenation.com|access-date=2020-04-07}}</ref> in ''The Nation,'' though Spelman administrators prided themselves for turning out refined "young ladies", its students were likely to be found on the picket line, or in jail for participating in the greater effort to break down segregation in public places in Atlanta. Zinn's years at Spelman are recounted in his autobiography ''You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times''. His seven years at Spelman College, Zinn said, "are probably the most interesting, exciting, most educational years for me. I learned more from my students than my students learned from me."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people/Zinn/zinn-con2.html|title=Interview with Zinn|work=globetrotter.berkeley.edu|access-date=2010-01-28|archive-date=June 29, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629163324/http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people/Zinn/zinn-con2.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

While living in Georgia, Zinn wrote that he observed 30 violations of the First and Fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution in Albany, Georgia, including the rights to [[Philosophy:Freedom of speech|freedom of speech]], freedom of assembly and equal protection under the law. In an article on the civil rights movement in Albany, Zinn described the people who participated in the Freedom Rides to end segregation, and the reluctance of President [[Biography:John F. Kennedy|John F. Kennedy]] to enforce the law.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zmag.org/zmag/articles/oldzinn.htm|title=My Name Is Freedom Albany, Georgia|work=zmag.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990219104007/http://www.zmag.org/zmag/articles/oldzinn.htm|archive-date=February 19, 1999|url-status=dead}}</ref> Zinn said that the Justice Department under Robert F. Kennedy and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, headed by J. Edgar Hoover, did little or nothing to stop the segregationists from brutalizing civil rights workers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mediafilter.org/mff/fbi.html|title=Media Filter article on Zinn|website=mediafilter.org|access-date=2010-01-28|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120302072448/http://mediafilter.org/mff/fbi.html|archive-date=2012-03-02}}</ref>

Zinn wrote about the struggle for civil rights, as both participant and historian.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.reportingcivilrights.org/authors/biblio.jsp?authorId=85|title=Reporting Civil Rights, Part one: American Journalism 1941–1963|publisher=The Library of America |access-date=2010-01-28}}</ref> His second book, ''The Southern Mystique'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.identitytheory.com/howard-zinn/|title=Howard Zinn Interview|work=Identity Theory|access-date=November 20, 2021|author=Robert Birnbaum|date=January 10, 2001}}</ref> was published in 1964, the same year as his ''SNCC: The New Abolitionists'' in which he describes how the sit-ins against segregation were initiated by students and, in that sense, were independent of the efforts of the older, more established civil rights organizations.

In 2005, forty-one years after he was sacked from Spelman, Zinn returned to the college, where he was given an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. He delivered the commencement address,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crmvet.org/comm/zinn05.htm|title=Against Discouragement: Spelman College Commencement Address, May 2005 By Howard Zinn|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051208044458/http://www.crmvet.org/comm/zinn05.htm|archive-date=2005-12-08|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Victoria|last=Brittain|title=Howard Zinn's Lesson To Us All|work={{wipe|The Guardian}}|date=28 January 2010|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jan/28/howard-zinn-america|location=London}}</ref> titled "Against Discouragement", and said that "the lesson of that history is that you must not despair, that if you are right, and you persist, things will change. The government may try to deceive the people, and the newspapers and television may do the same, but the truth has a way of coming out. The truth has a power greater than a hundred lies."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tomdispatch.com/graduation-day-with-howard-zinn/|title=Tomgram: Graduation Day with Howard Zinn|website=Tomdispatch.com|access-date=November 20, 2021|date=May 24, 2005}} full text of "Against Discouragement."</ref>

==Anti-war efforts==
===Vietnam===

Zinn wrote one of the earliest books calling for the U.S. withdrawal from its war in Vietnam. ''Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal'' was published by Beacon Press in 1967 based on his articles in ''Commonweal'', ''The Nation,'' and ''Ramparts''. In the opinion of [[Biography:Noam Chomsky|Noam Chomsky]], ''The Logic of Withdrawal'' was Zinn's most important book:<blockquote>"He was the first person to say—loudly, publicly, very persuasively—that this simply has to stop; we should get out, period, no conditions; we have no right to be there; it's an act of aggression; pull out. It was so surprising at the time that there wasn't even a review of the book. In fact, he asked me if I would review it in ''Ramparts'' just so that people would know about the book."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/28/howard_zinn_1922_2010_a_tribute|title=Howard Zinn (1922–2010): A Tribute to the Legendary Historian with Noam Chomsky, Alice Walker, Naomi Klein and Anthony Arnove|work=Democracy Now!}}</ref></blockquote>

Zinn's diplomatic visit to Hanoi with Reverend Daniel Berrigan, during the Tet Offensive in January 1968, resulted in the return of three American airmen, the first American POWs released by the North Vietnamese since the U.S. bombing of that nation had begun. The event was widely reported in the news media and discussed in a variety of books including ''Who Spoke Up? American Protest Against the War in Vietnam 1963–1975'' by Nancy Zaroulis and Gerald Sullivan.<ref>{{cite book|title=Who Spoke Up? American Protest Against the War in Vietnam 1963–1975|publisher=Horizon Book Promotions|year=1989|isbn=978-0-385-17547-0}}</ref> Zinn and the Berrigan brothers, Dan and Philip, remained friends and allies over the years.

Also in January 1968, he signed the "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the war.<ref>{{cite news|title=Writers and Editors War Tax Protest|date=January 30, 1968|work=New York Post}}</ref>

In December 1969, radical historians tried unsuccessfully to persuade the American Historical Association to pass an anti-Vietnam War resolution. "A debacle unfolded as [[Organization:Harvard University|Harvard]] historian (and AHA president in 1968) John Fairbank literally wrestled the microphone from Zinn's hands."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.historians.org/Perspectives/issues/2010/1002/1002tim1.cfm|title=Forty Years On: Looking Back at the 1969 Annual Meeting|first=Carl |last=Mirra]|issue=February 2010|magazine=Perspectives on History|publisher=American Historical Association}}</ref>

Daniel Ellsberg, a former [[Organization:RAND Corporation|RAND]] consultant who had secretly copied ''The Pentagon Papers'', which described the history of the United States' military involvement in Southeast Asia, gave a copy to Howard and Roslyn Zinn.<ref>{{cite book|title=Ellsberg autobiography, Zinn autobiography}}</ref> Along with [[Biography:Noam Chomsky|Noam Chomsky]], Zinn edited and annotated the copy of ''The Pentagon Papers'' that Senator Mike Gravel read into the Congressional Record and that was subsequently published by Beacon Press.

Announced on August 17<ref name="nyt081871">{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F50D14F9355B1A7493CAA81783D85F458785F9|title=Church Plans 4-Book Version of Pentagon Study|newspaper={{wipe|The New York Times}}|date=1971-08-18|access-date=2007-12-30|format=fee required|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214182649/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50D14F9355B1A7493CAA81783D85F458785F9|archive-date=December 14, 2013}}</ref> and published on October 10, 1971, this four-volume, relatively expensive set<ref name="nyt081871"/> became the "Senator Gravel Edition", which studies from [[Organization:Cornell University|Cornell University]] and the Annenberg Center for Communication have labeled as the most complete edition of the Pentagon Papers to be published.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Pentagon Papers: A Critical Evaluation|first=George McT.|last=Kahn|journal=American Political Science Review|volume=69|issue=2|pages=675–684|date=June 1975|doi=10.2307/1959096|jstor=1959096|s2cid=144419085 }}</ref><ref name="usc-resources">{{cite web|url=http://www.topsecretplay.org/index.php/content/resources|title=Resources|work=Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers|publisher=Annenberg Center for Communication at [[Organization:University of Southern California|University of Southern California]]|access-date=2007-12-30|archive-date=2008-01-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080111124450/http://www.topsecretplay.org/index.php/content/resources|url-status=dead}}</ref> The "Gravel Edition" was edited and annotated by Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn, and included an additional volume of analytical articles on the origins and progress of the war, also edited by Chomsky and Zinn.<ref name="usc-resources"/>

Zinn testified as an expert witness at Ellsberg's criminal trial for theft, conspiracy, and espionage in connection with the publication of the ''Pentagon Papers'' by ''{{wipe|The New York Times}}''. Defense attorneys asked Zinn to explain to the jury the history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam from World War II through 1963. Zinn discussed that history for several hours, and later reflected on his time before the jury. <blockquote>I explained there was nothing in the papers of military significance that could be used to harm the defense of the United States, that the information in them was simply ''embarrassing'' to our government because what was revealed, in the government's own interoffice memos, was how it had lied to the American public. ... The secrets disclosed in the Pentagon Papers might embarrass politicians, might hurt the profits of corporations wanting tin, rubber, oil, in far-off places. But this was not the same as hurting the nation, the people.<ref name="Zinn2010">{{cite book|first=Howard|last=Zinn|title=You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kQAWYJcoQc0C&pg=PA161|year=2010|publisher=Beacon Press|isbn=978-0-8070-9549-2|page=161}}</ref></blockquote> Most of the jurors later said that they voted for acquittal. However, the federal judge who presided over the case dismissed it on grounds it had been tainted by the Nixon administration's burglary of the office of Ellsberg's psychiatrist.

Zinn's testimony on the motivation for government secrecy was confirmed in 1989 by Erwin Griswold, who as U.S. solicitor general during the Nixon administration sued ''The New York Times'' in the Pentagon Papers case in 1971 to stop publication.<ref name="latimes">{{cite news|url=https://articles.latimes.com/2006/may/21/opinion/op-blanton21 |title=The lie behind the secrets|last=Blanton|first=Tom|date=2006-05-21|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2013-07-28}}</ref> Griswold persuaded three Supreme Court justices to vote to stop ''The New York Times'' from continuing to publish the Pentagon Papers, an order known as "prior restraint" that has been held to be illegal under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The papers were simultaneously published in ''{{wipe|The Washington Post}}'', effectively nullifying the effect of the prior restraint order. In 1989, Griswold admitted there had been no national security damage resulting from publication.<ref name="latimes" /> In a column in ''The Washington Post'', Griswold wrote: "It quickly becomes apparent to any person who has considerable experience with classified material that there is massive over-classification and that the principal concern of the classifiers is not with national security, but with governmental embarrassment of one sort or another."

Zinn supported the G.I. anti-war movement during the U.S. war in Vietnam. In the 2001 film ''Unfinished Symphony: Democracy and Dissent'', Zinn provides a historical context for the 1971 anti-war march by Vietnam Veterans against the War. The marchers traveled from Bunker Hill near Boston to Lexington, {{wipe|Massachusetts}}, "which retraced Paul Revere's ride of 1775 and ended in the massive arrest of 410 veterans and civilians by the Lexington police." The film depicts "scenes from the 1971 Winter Soldier hearings,<ref>{{cite book |title=Winter Soldier Investigation |year=1971}}</ref> during which former G.I.s testified about "atrocities" they either participated in or said they had witnessed committed by U.S. forces in Vietnam.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/unfinished.pdf|title=Cineaste|pages=91, 96|access-date=2010-03-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110622090809/http://www.chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/unfinished.pdf|archive-date=June 22, 2011}}</ref> Zinn also took part in the 1971 May Day protests (with among others [[Biography:Noam Chomsky|Noam Chomsky]] and Daniel Ellsberg).<ref>{{cite web|last=Ellsberg|first=Daniel|date=28 January 2010|url=https://www.truthdig.com/articles/a-memory-of-howard|title=A Memory of Howard|work=Truthdig|access-date=26 December 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=29 April 2021|url=https://wagingnonviolence.org/2021/04/spring-offensive-mayday-1971-nixon-vietnam-antiwar|title=How 1971's Mayday actions rattled Nixon and helped keep Vietnam from becoming a forever war|access-date=26 December 2021}}</ref>

In later years, Zinn was an adviser to the Disarm Education Fund.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://disarm.org/who-we-are/disarm-staff|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615172614/http://disarm.org/who-we-are/disarm-staff|url-status=dead|archive-date=2010-06-15|title=Disarm Staff|work=DISARM Education Fund|access-date=2020-04-07}}</ref>

===Iraq===
[[File:Howard Zinn.jpg|220px|thumb|left|Howard Zinn speaking at [[Organization:Marlboro College|Marlboro College]] February 2004]]

Zinn opposed the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq and wrote several books about it. In an interview with ''The Brooklyn Rail'' he said, <blockquote>We certainly should not be initiating a war, as it's not a clear and present danger to the United States, or in fact, to anyone around it. If it were, then the states around Iraq would be calling for a war on it. The Arab states around Iraq are opposed to the war, and if anyone's in danger from Iraq, they are. At the same time, the U.S. is violating the U.N. charter by initiating a war on Iraq. Bush made a big deal about the number of resolutions Iraq has violated—and it's true, Iraq has not abided by the resolutions of the Security Council. But it's not the first nation to violate Security Council resolutions. Israel has violated Security Council resolutions every year since 1967. Now, however, the U.S. is violating a fundamental principle of the U.N. Charter, which is that nations can't initiate a war—they can only do so after being attacked. And Iraq has not attacked us.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hamm|first=Theodore|title=Howard Zinn in Conversation with Theodore Hamm|journal=The Brooklyn Rail|date=Autumn 2002|url=http://brooklynrail.org/2002/10/express/howard-zinn-with-theodore-hamm}}</ref></blockquote> He asserted that the U.S. would end Gulf War II when resistance within the military increased in the same way resistance within the military contributed to ending the U.S. war in Vietnam. Zinn compared the demand by a growing number of contemporary U.S. military families to end the war in Iraq to parallel demands "in the Confederacy in the Civil War, when the wives of soldiers rioted because their husbands were dying and the plantation owners were profiting from the sale of cotton, refusing to grow grains for civilians to eat."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tomdispatch.com/tomdispatch-interview-howard-zinn-the-outer-limits-of-empire/|title=Tomdispatch Interview: Howard Zinn, The Outer Limits of Empire|work=TomDispatch.com|date=8 September 2005|access-date=November 21, 2021}}</ref>

Zinn believed that U.S. President George W. Bush and followers of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the former leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, who was personally responsible for beheadings and numerous attacks designed to cause civil war in Iraq, should be considered moral equivalents.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Prager|first1=Dennis|title=What the left thinks: Howard Zinn, Part II|url=http://www.dennisprager.com/what-the-left-thinks-howard-zinn-part-ii/|work=DennisPrager.com|access-date=20 March 2018|quote=DP: So do you feel that, by and large, the Zarqawi-world and the Bush-world are moral equivalents? HZ: I do.}}</ref>

Jean-Christophe Agnew, Professor of History and American Studies at [[Organization:Yale University|Yale University]], told the ''Yale Daily News'' in May 2007 that Zinn's historical work is "highly influential and widely used".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/21049|title=Zinn calls for activism|publisher=Yale Daily News|date=2007-05-03|access-date=2010-01-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016182602/http://yaledailynews.com/articles/view/21049|archive-date=2007-10-16}}</ref> He observed that it is not unusual for prominent professors such as Zinn to weigh in on current events, citing a resolution opposing the war in Iraq that was recently ratified by the American Historical Association.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.historians.org/news/166/iraq-war-resolution-is-ratified-by-aha-members|title=American Historical Association Blog: Iraq War Resolution is Ratified by AHA Members|website=blog.historians.org|date=2007-03-12|access-date=2010-01-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110116074414/http://blog.historians.org/news/166/iraq-war-resolution-is-ratified-by-aha-members|archive-date=2011-01-16|url-status=dead}}</ref> Agnew added: "In these moments of crisis, when the country is split—so historians are split."<ref>{{cite web|last=Yu|first=Lea|url=http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/05/04/963/|title=Historian Howard Zinn Calls for Activism|work=CommonDreams.org|access-date=2010-01-28|archive-date=2008-12-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216133233/http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/05/04/963|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Socialism==
Zinn described himself as "something of an [[Social:Anarchism|anarchist]], something of a [[Social:Socialism|socialist]]. Maybe a [[Social:Democratic socialism|democratic socialist]]."<ref name="flag.blackened.net"/><ref name="ReferenceA"/> He suggested looking at socialism in its full historical context as a popular, positive idea that got a bad name from its association with Soviet Communism. In Madison, Wisconsin, in 2009, Zinn said:
{{Blockquote|Let's talk about socialism. I think it's very important to bring back the idea of socialism into the national discussion to where it was at the turn of the [last] century before the Soviet Union gave it a bad name. Socialism had a good name in this country. Socialism had Eugene Debs. It had [[Biography:Clarence Darrow|Clarence Darrow]]. It had Mother Jones. It had [[Biography:Emma Goldman|Emma Goldman]]. It had several million people reading socialist newspapers around the country. Socialism basically said, hey, let's have a kinder, gentler society. Let's share things. Let's have an economic system that produces things not because they're profitable for some corporation, but produces things that people need. People should not be retreating from the word socialism because you have to go beyond capitalism.<ref name = "ZirinHP">{{cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/dave-zirin/howard-zinn-the-historian_b_439757.html|title=Howard Zinn: The Historian Who Made History|last=Zirin|first=Dave|work=The Huffington Post|date=January 28, 2010|access-date=November 21, 2021}}</ref>}}

==FBI files==
[[File:Occupy Oakland Nov 12 2011 PM 40.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Occupy Oakland, November 12, 2011, Howard Zinn quotation]]

On July 30, 2010, a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request resulted in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) releasing a file with 423 pages of information on Howard Zinn's life and activities. During the height of McCarthyism in 1949, the FBI first opened a domestic security investigation on Zinn (FBI File # 100-360217), based on Zinn's activities in what the agency considered to be communist front groups, such as the American Labor Party,<ref>{{cite news|quote=Zinn, who died in January and was best known for his influential A People's History of the United States, was studying at New York University on the GI Bill when J. Edgar Hoover's FBI opened its first files on him. He was working as vice chairman for the Brooklyn branch of the American Labor Party and living at 926 Lafayette Avenue in what is an area now considered the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn.|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/07/30/howard-zinns-fbi-files-reveal-communist-allegations.html|title=The Daily Beast|date=July 30, 2010|last1=Merrefield|first1=Clark}}</ref> and informant reports that Zinn was an active member of the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA).<ref name="Progress">{{cite web|url=http://progressive.org/dispatches/fbi-s-file-howard-zinn/|title=The FBI's File on Howard Zinn|author=Matthew Rothschild|work=The Progressive|date=July 31, 2010}}</ref> Zinn denied ever being a member and said that he had participated in the activities of various organizations which might be considered Communist fronts, but that his participation was motivated by his belief that in this country people had the right to believe, think, and act according to their own ideals.<ref name = "Progress" /> According to journalist [[Biography:Chris Hedges|Chris Hedges]], Zinn "steadfastly refused to cooperate in the anti-communist witchhunts in the 1950s."<ref>{{cite web|last=Hedges|first=Chris|date=1 August 2010|url=http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/why_the_feds_fear_thinkers_like_howard_zinn_20100801|title=Why the Feds Fear Thinkers Like Howard Zinn|work=Truthdig|access-date=30 January 2014}}</ref>

Later in the 1960s, as a result of Zinn's campaigning against the Vietnam War and his communication with [[Biography:Martin Luther King Jr.|Martin Luther King Jr.]], the FBI designated him a high security risk to the country by adding him to the Security Index, a list of American citizens who could be summarily arrested if a [[Social:State of emergency|state of emergency]] were to be declared.<ref name = "Progress" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://vault.fbi.gov/Howard%20Zinn%20/|title=FBI Records: The Vault — Howard Zinn|work=vault.fbi.gov|access-date=2013-08-04}}</ref> The FBI memos also show that they were concerned with Zinn's repeated criticism of the FBI for failing to protect blacks against white mob violence. Zinn's daughter said she was not surprised by the files: "He always knew they had a file on him".<ref name = "Progress" />

==Personal life and death==
[[File:HowardZinn.jpg|thumb|Zinn at Pathfinder Book Store, Los Angeles, August 2000]]
Zinn married Roslyn Shechter in 1944. They remained married until her death in 2008. They had a daughter, Myla, and a son, Jeff. Myla is the wife of mindfulness instructor Jon Kabat-Zinn.<ref name="bost-death">{{Citation| last1 = Feeney| first1 = Mark|  last2 = Marquard | first2 = Brian | title = Historian-activist Zinn dies| website=Boston.com| date = January 28, 2010 | url = http://archive.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2010/01/28/historian_activist_zinn_dies/?page=full | access-date = 2016-12-28}}</ref>

Zinn was swimming in a hotel pool when he died of an apparent [[Medicine:Myocardial infarction|heart attack]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/us/29zinn.html|title=Howard Zinn, Historian, Is Dead at 87|first=Michael|last=Powell|date=January 28, 2010|website={{wipe|The New York Times}}|access-date=2020-04-07}}</ref> in Santa Monica, California, on January 27, 2010, at age 87. He had been scheduled to speak at Crossroads School and Santa Monica Museum of Art for an event titled "A Collection of Ideas... the People Speak."<ref>[https://latimes.com/news/local/la-me-howard-zinn28-2010jan28,0,5610858.story Howard Zinn dies at 87; author of best-selling ''People's History of the United States'': Activist collapsed in Santa Monica, where he was scheduled to deliver a lecture.] by Robert J. Lopez, January 28, 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-09.</ref>

In one of his last interviews,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://bigthink.com/howardzinn/ |title=Howard Zinn &#124; Historian &#124; Big Think |access-date=2010-01-30 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100201145252/http://bigthink.com/howardzinn |archive-date=2010-02-01 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Zinn stated that he would like to be remembered "for introducing a different way of thinking about the world, about war, about human rights, about equality," and

<blockquote>for getting more people to realize that the power which rests so far in the hands of people with wealth and guns, that the power ultimately rests in people themselves and that they can use it. At certain points in history, they have used it. Black people in the South used it. People in the women's movement used it. People in the anti-war movement used it. People in other countries who have overthrown tyrannies have used it.</blockquote>

He said he wanted to be known as "somebody who gave people a feeling of hope and power that they didn't have before."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.commondreams.org/video/2010/01/29-2 |title=Howard Zinn: How I Want to Be Remembered |website=Commondreams.org |date=2010-01-29 |access-date=2020-04-07 |archive-date=2013-09-22 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130922064552/http://www.commondreams.org/video/2010/01/29-2 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Notable recognition==
*2008 Howard Zinn was selected as a special senior advisor to Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, the president of the United Nations General Assembly 63rd session.
*Established by a former [[Organization:Boston University|Boston University]] student of Zinn's and two nonprofit organizations (Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change) while he was alive, the Zinn Education Project is Howard Zinn's legacy to middle- and high-school teachers and their students.<ref name="auto1"/> The project offers classroom teachers free lessons based on ''A People's History of the United States'' and like-minded history texts.

==Awards==
{{Quote box
| quote = "I can't think of anyone who had such a powerful and benign influence. His historical work changed the way millions of people saw the past. The happy thing about Howard was that in the last years he could gain satisfaction that his contributions were so impressive and recognized."<ref name="HP"/>
| source = — [[Biography:Noam Chomsky|Noam Chomsky]]
| align = right
| width = 38%
 }}

In 1991 the Thomas Merton Center for Peace and Social Justice in Pittsburgh awarded Zinn the Thomas Merton Award for his activism and work on national and international issues that transform our world.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thomasmertoncenter.org/2018-thomas-merton-award|title = Past thomas merton awardees|access-date= December 4, 2018}}</ref> For his leadership in the Peace Movement, Zinn received the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award in 1996.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.peaceabbey.org/2015/05/recipients-of-the-courage-of-conscience-award/|access-date=December 4, 2018|title=57th recipient of the INT'L COURAGE OF CONSCIENCE AWARD - Howard Zinn|website=Peaceabbey.org|date=May 2, 2015 }}</ref> In 1998 he received the Eugene V. Debs Award,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eugenevdebs.com/pages/foundation.html |title=Eugene V Debs Foundation Member Awards |access-date=2009-04-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080505034745/http://www.eugenevdebs.com/pages/foundation.html |archive-date=May 5, 2008 }}. Retrieved 2010-03-09.</ref> the Firecracker Alternative Booksellers Award in the Politics category for ''The Zinn Reader: Writings on Disobedience and Democracy'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sevenstories.com/books/3799-the-zinn-reader|title=The Zinn Reader|website=Sevenstories.com|access-date=2020-04-07}}</ref> and the Lannan Literary Award for nonfiction.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lannan.org/bios/howard-zinn|title=Lannan Foundation – Howard Zinn|website=Lannan.org}}</ref> The following year he won the [[Biography:Upton Sinclair|Upton Sinclair]] Award, which honors those whose work illustrates an abiding commitment to social justice and equality.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.howardzinn.org/about/awards/|title=Awards - Howard Zinn|website=Howardzinn.org|access-date=December 4, 2018}}</ref>

In 2003, Zinn was awarded the ''Prix des Amis du Monde diplomatique'' for the French version of his seminal work, ''Une histoire populaire des Etats-Unis.''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.amis.monde-diplomatique.fr/article.php3?id_article=252 |title=Prix des Amis du Monde diplomatique 2003 – Les Amis du Monde diplomatique |website=Amis.monde-diplomatique.fr |access-date=2010-01-28}}</ref>

On October 5, 2006, Zinn received the Haven's Center Award for Lifetime Contribution to Critical Scholarship in Madison, Wisconsin.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.wisc.edu/zinn-to-receive-havens-center-award/|title=Zinn to receive Havens Center award (October 4, 2006)|date=2006-10-04|website=News.wisc.edu}}</ref>

==Reception==
In July 2013, the Associated Press revealed that Mitch Daniels, when he was the sitting Republican Governor of Indiana, asked for assurance from his education advisors that Zinn's works were not taught in K–12 public schools in the state.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/07/17/e-mails-reveal-censorship-efforts-by-mitch-daniels-as-indiana-governor/|title=E-mails reveal censorship efforts by Mitch Daniels as Indiana governor|newspaper={{wipe|The Washington Post}}|date=July 17, 2013|access-date=March 7, 2021}}</ref> The AP had gained access to Daniels' emails under a Freedom of Information Act request. Daniels also wanted a "cleanup" of K–12 professional development courses to eliminate "propaganda and highlight (if there is any) the more useful offerings."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.teachingforchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/zep_archive_huffpost_mitchdaniels_071613.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.teachingforchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/zep_archive_huffpost_mitchdaniels_071613.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Mitch Daniels Sought To Censor Public Universities, Professors|newspaper=The Huffington Post|access-date=August 23, 2017}}</ref> In one of the emails, Daniels expressed contempt for Zinn upon his death:<ref>{{cite web|last=Ohlheiser|first=Abby|title=Former Governor, Now Purdue President, Wanted Howard Zinn Banned in Schools|url=http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/07/former-ind-gov-daniels-now-purdue-president-wanted-howard-zinn-banned-schools/67256/|publisher=Atlantic Wire|date=July 16, 2013|access-date=August 23, 2017|archive-date=October 16, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016214127/http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/07/former-ind-gov-daniels-now-purdue-president-wanted-howard-zinn-banned-schools/67256/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
{{blockquote |text=This terrible anti-American academic has finally passed away...The obits and commentaries mentioned his book, ''A People's History of the United States'', is the 'textbook of choice in high schools and colleges around the country.' It is a truly execrable, anti-factual piece of disinformation that misstates American history on every page. Can someone assure me that it is not in use anywhere in Indiana? If it is, how do we get rid of it before more young people are force-fed a totally false version of our history?}}

At the time the emails were released, Daniels was serving as the president of [[Organization:Purdue University|Purdue University]]. In response, 90 Purdue professors issued an open letter expressing their concern.<ref name=thenation>{{cite news|url=http://www.thenation.com/article/175592/whos-afraid-radical-history#|title=Who's Afraid of Radical History?|newspaper=The Nation|date=August 5, 2013|access-date=August 23, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Franck|first=Mathew|title=Mitch Daniels Can Count|url=http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2013/07/23/mitch-daniels-can-count/|publisher=First Things|date=July 23, 2013|access-date=August 23, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130722/NEWS/130729928/1005|title=Purdue profs 'troubled' by Mitch Daniels' Zinn comments|last=LoBianco|first=Tom|date=July 22, 2013|website=News-sentinel.com|access-date=August 23, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803011414/http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20130722%2FNEWS%2F130729928%2F1005|archive-date=August 3, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.democracynow.org/2013/7/22/censoring_howard_zinn_former_indiana_gov|title=Censoring Howard Zinn: Former Indiana Gov. Tried to Remove "A People's History" from State Schools|date=July 22, 2013|work=Democracy Now|access-date=August 23, 2017}}</ref> Because of Daniels' attempt to remove Zinn's book, the former governor was accused of [[Social:Censorship|censorship]], to which Daniels responded by saying that his views were misrepresented, and that if Zinn were alive and a member of the Purdue faculty, he would defend his free speech rights and right to publish. But he said that would not give Zinn an "entitlement to have that work foisted on school children in public schools."<ref>{{cite web |title=The Mitch Daniels Controversy |url=https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/september-2013/the-mitch-daniels-controversy-context-for-the-aha-statement |website=Perspectives on History: The Newsmagazine of the American Historical Association |access-date=13 August 2020}}</ref>

Stanford education professor Sam Wineburg has criticized Zinn's research. Wineburg acknowledged that ''A People's History of the United States'' was an important contribution for overlooked alternative perspectives, but criticised the book's coverage of the mid-thirties to the Cold War. According to reviewer David Plotnikoff from Stanford, Wineburg shows that "<em>A People's History</em> perpetrates the same errors of historical practice as the tomes it aimed to correct", for "Zinn's desire to cast a light on what he saw as historic injustice was a crusade built on secondary sources of questionable provenance, omission of exculpatory evidence, leading questions and shaky connections between evidence and conclusions".<ref>{{cite news|last=Plotnikoff|first=David|title=Zinn's influential history textbook has problems, says Stanford education expert|url=http://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/december/wineburg-historiography-zinn-122012.html|publisher=Stanford University News|date=December 20, 2012|access-date=August 23, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Wineburg|first1=Sam|title=Undue Certainty|url=http://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/periodicals/Wineburg.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/periodicals/Wineburg.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|publisher=American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO |access-date=August 23, 2017}}</ref>

Daniel J. Flynn, an author and columnist at the conservative ''The American Spectator'', wrote that Zinn's history was biased.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Flynn|first1=Daniel J.|title=Howard Zinn's Biased History|url=http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/1493|website=History News Network|publisher=George Mason University|date=June 9, 2003|access-date=August 23, 2017}}</ref> [[Biography:Michael Kazin|Michael Kazin]], professor at Georgetown University and co-editor of the leftist magazine ''Dissent,'', praised Zinn's ''A People's History of the United States'' for its dramatic condemnation of the exploitation of the masses by an elite few, and for its lavish use of quotes from social rebels and revolutionaries, though he describes it as somewhat simplified.<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=Can Conservatives Write Good U.S. History? |url=https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/can-conservatives-write-good-u-s-history |access-date=2022-12-30 |magazine=Dissent Magazine |date=Fall 2019 |first=Michael |last=Kazin |author-link=Michael Kazin}}</ref> Kazin has also provided criticism saying "<em>A People's History</em> is bad history, albeit gilded with virtuous intentions. Zinn reduces the past to a [[Unsolved:Manichaeism|Manichean]] fable."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kazin|first1=Michael|title=Howard Zinn's Disappointing History of the United States|url=http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/4370|website=History News Network|publisher=George Washington University|date=February 9, 2010|access-date=August 23, 2017}}</ref>

Mary Grabar, a resident fellow at the Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization, accused Zinn of plagiarizing a polemic by novelist and anti-Vietnam War activist Hans Koning in ''The People's History'', and editing Koning's narrative to remove what Grabar said was the "devout Catholic Columbus’s concern for the natives".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.syracuse.com/opinion/2020/07/scholar-disputes-source-of-criticism-of-columbus-commentary.html |title=Scholar disputes source of criticism of Columbus (Commentary) |first1=Mary |last1=Grabar |date=2020-07-13 |accessdate=2022-10-17}}</ref>{{sfn|Grabar|2020b}}

In early 2017, lawmaker [[Biography:Kim Hendren|Kim Hendren]] attempted to ban books written by Zinn from Arkansas public schools.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2017/2017R/Bills/HB1834.pdf |archive-url= https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2017/2017R/Bills/HB1834.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=House Bill 1834- For An Act To Be Entitled An Act to Prohibit a Public School District or Open-Enrollment Public Charter School from Including in Its Curriculum or Course Materials for a Program of Study Books or Any Other Material Authored by or Concerning Howard Zinn; and for Other Purposes.|website= arkleg.state.ar.us| publisher= Arkansas State Legislature |access-date=March 3, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2017/03/02/bill-introduced-to-ban-howard-zinn-books-from-arkansas-public-schools|title=Bill introduced to ban Howard Zinn books from Arkansas public schools| date=March 2, 2017|access-date=August 23, 2017}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
===Author===
{{refbegin|20em}}
*''LaGuardia in Congress'' (1959; based on his 1958 Ph.D. dissertation ''Fiorello LaGuardia in Congress'') {{OCLC|642325734}}. <!-- pre-isbn books... the ISBNs are for later editions -->
*''The Southern Mystique'' (1962) {{OCLC|423360}}.
*''SNCC: The New Abolitionists'' (1964) {{OCLC|466264063}}.
*''New Deal Thought'' (editor) (1965) {{OCLC|422649795}}.
*''Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal'' (1967) {{OCLC|411235}}.
*''Disobedience and Democracy: Nine Fallacies on Law and Order'' (1968, re-issued 2002) {{ISBN|978-0-89608-675-3}}.
*''The Politics of History'' (1970) (2nd edition 1990) {{ISBN|978-0-252-06122-6}}.
*''The Pentagon Papers'' Senator Gravel Edition. Vol. Five. Critical Essays. Boston. Beacon Press, 1972. 341p. plus 72p. of Index to Vol. I–IV of the Papers, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, editors. {{ISBN|978-0-8070-0522-4}}.
*''Justice in Everyday Life: The Way It Really Works'' (Editor) (1974) {{ISBN|978-0-688-00284-8}}.
*''Justice? Eyewitness Accounts'' (1977) {{ISBN|978-0-8070-4479-7}}.
*{{cite book | last1 = Zinn | first1 = Howard | author-mask1 = 1 | date = 2009 | title = A People's History of the United States: 1492-present | url = https://archive.org/details/peopleshistoryof00zinn_2/ | url-access = registration | language = en | publisher = HarperCollins | isbn = 978-0060528423 | lccn = 2002032895 | oclc = 699879349 | ol = OL3563811M | access-date = 2022-07-08 | via = [[Internet Archive]] | df = dmy-all}}
**See also ''A People's History of the United States
*{{cite book | last1 = Klein| first1 = Maxine | last2 = Sargent | first2 = Lydia | last3 = Zinn | first3 = Howard | author-mask3 = 1 | date = 1986| title = Playbook| language = en | publisher = South End Press | isbn = 978-0896083097 | lccn = 86006754 | oclc = 13116400 | ol = OL2713846M | df = dmy-all}}
*''Declarations of Independence: Cross-Examining American Ideology'' (1991) {{ISBN|978-0-06-092108-8}}.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/declarationsofin00zinn Declarations of independence: cross-examining American ideology] By Howard Zinn.</ref>
*''A People's History of the United States: The Civil War to the Present'' Kathy Emery and Ellen Reeves, Howard Zinn (2003 teaching edition) Vol. I: {{ISBN|978-1-56584-724-8}}. Vol II: {{ISBN|978-1-56584-725-5}}.
*''Failure to Quit: Reflections of an Optimistic Historian'' (1993) {{ISBN|978-1-56751-013-3}}.
*''You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times'' (autobiography)(1994) {{ISBN|978-0-8070-7127-4}}
*''A People's History of the United States: The Wall Charts'' by Howard Zinn and George Kirschner (1995) {{ISBN|978-1-56584-171-0}}.
*''Hiroshima: Breaking the Silence'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20080725072904/http://polymer.bu.edu/~amaral/Personal/zinn.html (pamphlet, 1995)] {{ISBN|978-1-884519-14-7}}.
*''The Zinn Reader: Writings on Disobedience and Democracy'' (1997) {{ISBN|978-1-888363-54-8}}; 2nd edition (2009) {{ISBN|978-1-58322-870-8}}.
*''The Cold War & the University: Toward an Intellectual History of the Postwar Years'' ([[Biography:Noam Chomsky|Noam Chomsky]] (Editor) Authors: Ira Katznelson, R. C. Lewontin, David Montgomery, Laura Nader, Richard Ohmann,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.upne.com/0-8195-6589-X.html |title=Politics of Knowledge: Richard Ohmann |publisher=UPNE |date=2010-01-21 |access-date=2010-01-28}}</ref> Ray Siever, Immanuel Wallerstein, Howard Zinn (1997) {{ISBN|978-1-56584-005-8}}.
*''Marx in Soho: A Play on History'' (1999) {{ISBN|978-0-89608-593-0}}.
*''The Future of History: Interviews With David Barsamian'' (1999) {{ISBN|978-1-56751-157-4}}.
*''Howard Zinn on War'' (2000) {{ISBN|978-1-58322-049-8}}.
*''Howard Zinn on History'' (2000) {{ISBN|978-1-58322-048-1}}.
*''La Otra Historia De Los Estados Unidos'' (2000) {{ISBN|978-1-58322-054-2}}.
*''Three Strikes: Miners, Musicians, Salesgirls, and the Fighting Spirit of Labor's Last Century'' (Dana Frank, Robin Kelley, and Howard Zinn) (2002) {{ISBN|978-0-8070-5013-2}}.
*''Terrorism and War'' (2002) {{ISBN|978-1-58322-493-9}}. (interviews, Anthony Arnove (Ed.))
*''The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace'' Editor (2002) {{ISBN|978-0-8070-1407-3}}.
*''Emma: A Play in Two Acts About Emma Goldman, American Anarchist'' (2002) {{ISBN|978-0-89608-664-7}}.
*''Artists in Times of War'' (2003) {{ISBN|978-1-58322-602-5}}.
*''The 20th century: A People's History'' (2003) {{ISBN|978-0-06-053034-1}}.
*''A People's History of the United States: Teaching Edition Abridged'' (2003 updated) {{ISBN|978-1-56584-826-9}}.
*''Passionate Declarations: Essays on War and Justice'' (2003) {{ISBN|978-0-06-055767-6}}.
*''Iraq Under Siege, The Deadly Impact of Sanctions and War'', co-author (2003)
*''Howard Zinn On Democratic Education'' Donaldo Macedo, Editor (2004) {{ISBN|978-1-59451-054-0}}.
*''The People Speak: American Voices, Some Famous, Some Little Known'' (2004) {{ISBN|978-0-06-057826-8}}.
*''Voices of a People's History of the United States'' (with Anthony Arnove, 2004) {{ISBN|978-1-58322-647-6}}; 2nd edition (2009) {{ISBN|978-1-58322-916-3}}.
*''A People's History of the Civil War: Struggles for the Meaning of Freedom'' by David Williams, Howard Zinn (Series Editor) (2005) {{ISBN|978-1-59558-018-4}}.
*''A Power Governments Cannot Suppress'' (2006) {{ISBN|978-0-87286-475-7}}.
*''Original Zinn: Conversations on History and Politics'' (2006) Howard Zinn and David Barsamian.
*''[[Finance:A People's History of American Empire|A People's History of American Empire]]'' (2008) by Howard Zinn, Mike Konopacki and Paul Buhle. {{ISBN|978-0-8050-8744-4}}.
*''A Young People's History of the United States'', adapted from the original text by Rebecca Stefoff; illustrated and updated through 2006, with new introduction and afterword by Howard Zinn; two volumes, Seven Stories Press, New York, 2007.
**''Vol. 1: Columbus to the Spanish–American War''. {{ISBN|978-1-58322-759-6}}.
**''Vol. 2: Class Struggle to the War on Terror''. {{ISBN|978-1-58322-760-2}}.
**One-volume edition (2009) {{ISBN|978-1-58322-869-2}}.
*''The Bomb'' (City Lights Publishers, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-87286-509-9}}.
*''The Historic Unfulfilled Promise'' (City Lights Publishers, 2012) {{ISBN|978-0-87286-555-6}}.
*''Howard Zinn Speaks: Collected Speeches 1963-2009'' (Haymarket Books, 2012) {{ISBN|978-1-60846-259-9}}.
*''Truth Has a Power of Its Own: Conversations About A People's History'' by Howard Zinn and Ray Suarez (The New Press, 2019) {{ISBN|978-1-62097-517-6|}}.
{{refend}}

===Contributor===
{{refbegin|20em}}
*''Ars Americana Ars Politica: Partisan Expression in Contemporary American Literature and Culture''. by Peter Swirski (2010) {{ISBN|978-0-7735-3766-8}}.
*''Admirable Radical: Staughton Lynd and Cold War Dissent, 1945–1970'' (2010), Kent State University Press by Carl Mirra {{ISBN|978-1-60635-051-5}}.
*''A Gigantic Mistake'' by Mickey Z (2004) {{ISBN|978-1-930997-97-4}}.
*''A People's History of the Supreme Court'' by Peter H. Irons (2000) {{ISBN|978-0-14-029201-5}}.
*''A Political Dynasty In North Idaho, 1933–1967'' by Randall Doyle (2004) {{ISBN|978-0-7618-2843-3}}.
*''American Political Prisoners: Prosecutions Under the Espionage and Sedition Acts'' by Stephen M. Kohn (1994) {{ISBN|978-0-275-94415-5}}.
*''American Power and the New Mandarins'' by [[Biography:Noam Chomsky|Noam Chomsky]] (2002) {{ISBN|978-1-56584-775-0}}.
*''Broken Promises Of America: At Home And Abroad, Past And Present: An Encyclopedia For Our Times'' by (Douglas F. Dowd (2004) {{ISBN|978-1-56751-313-4}}.
*''Deserter From Death: Dispatches From Western Europe 1950–2000'' by Daniel Singer (2005) {{ISBN|978-1-56025-642-7}}.
*''Ecocide of Native America: Environmental Destruction of Indian Lands and Peoples'' by Donald Grinde, Bruce Johansen (1994) {{ISBN|978-0-940666-52-8}}.
*''Eugene V. Debs Reader: Socialism and the Class Struggle'' by William A. Pelz (2000) {{ISBN|978-0-9704669-0-7}}.
*''From a Native Son: Selected Essays in Indigenism, 1985–1995'' by [[Biography:Ward Churchill|Ward Churchill]] (1996) {{ISBN|978-0-89608-553-4}}.
*''Green Parrots: A War Surgeon's Diary'' by Gino Strada (2005) {{ISBN|978-88-8158-420-8}}.
*''Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear And The Selling Of American Empire'' by Sut Jhally editor, Jeremy Earp editor (2004) {{ISBN|978-1-56656-581-3}}.
*''If You're Not a Terrorist...Then Stop Asking Questions!'' by Micah Ian Wright (2004) {{ISBN|978-1-58322-626-1}}.
*''Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal'' by Anthony Arnove (2006) {{ISBN|978-1-59558-079-5}}.
*''Impeach the President: The Case Against Bush and Cheney'' Dennis Loo (Editor), Peter Phillips (Editor), Seven Stories Press: 2006 {{ISBN|978-1-58322-743-5}}.
*''Life of an Anarchist: The Alexander Berkman Reader'' by Alexander Berkman Gene Fellner, editor (2004) {{ISBN|978-1-58322-662-9}}.
*''Long Shadows: Veterans' Paths to Peace'' by David Giffey editor (2006) {{ISBN|978-1-891859-64-9}}.
*''Masters of War: Latin America and United States Aggression from the Cuban Revolution Through the Clinton Years'' by Clara Nieto, Chris Brandt (trans) (2003) {{ISBN|978-1-58322-545-5}}.
*''Peace Signs: The Anti-War Movement Illustrated'' by James Mann, editor (2004) {{ISBN|978-3-283-00487-3}}.
*''Prayer for the Morning Headlines: On the Sanctity of Life and Death'' by Daniel Berrigan (poetry) and Adrianna Amari (photography) (2007) {{ISBN|978-1-934074-16-9}}.
*''Silencing Political Dissent: How Post-9-11 Anti-terrorism Measures Threaten Our Civil Liberties'' by Nancy Chang, Center for Constitutional Rights (2002) {{ISBN|978-1-58322-494-6}}.
*''Soldiers In Revolt: GI Resistance During The Vietnam War'' by David Cortright (2005) {{ISBN|978-1-931859-27-1}}.
*''Sold to the Highest Bidder: The Presidency from Dwight D. Eisenhower to George W. Bush'' by Daniel M. Friedenberg (2002) {{ISBN|978-1-57392-923-3}}.
*''The Autobiography of Abbie Hoffman'' Intro by Norman Mailer, Afterword by HZ (2000) {{ISBN|978-1-56858-197-2}}.
*''The Case for Socialism'' by Alan Maass (2004) {{ISBN|978-1-931859-09-7}}.
*''The Forging of the American Empire: From the Revolution to Vietnam, a History of U.S. Imperialism'' by Sidney Lens (2003) {{ISBN|978-0-7453-2101-1}}.
*''The Higher Law: Thoreau on Civil Disobedience and Reform'' by [[Biography:Henry David Thoreau|Henry David Thoreau]], Wendell Glick, editor (2004) {{ISBN|978-0-691-11876-5}}.
*''The Iron Heel'' by Jack London (1971) {{ISBN|978-0-14-303971-6}}.
*''The Sixties Experience: Hard Lessons about Modern America'' by Edward P. Morgan (1992) {{ISBN|978-1-56639-014-9}}.
*''You Back the Attack, We'll Bomb Who We Want'' by Micah Ian Wright (2003) {{ISBN|978-1-58322-584-4}}.
*''A People's History of the American Revolution'' by Ray Raphael (2002) {{ISBN|978-0-06-000440-8}}. ''Howard Zinn Foreword for New Press People's History Series''.
{{refend}}

===Recordings===
{{refbegin|20em}}
*''A People's History of the United States'' (1999)
*''Artists in the Time of War'' (2002)
*''Heroes & Martyrs: Emma Goldman, Sacco & Vanzetti, and the Revolutionary Struggle'' (2000)
*''Stories Hollywood Never Tells'' (2000)
*''You Can't Blow Up A Social Relationship'', CD including Zinn lectures and performances by rock band Resident Genius (Thick Records, 2005)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Howard-Zinn-Resident-Genius-You-Cant-Blow-Up-A-Social-Relationship/release/6117420|title=Howard Zinn, Resident Genius - You Can't Blow Up A Social Relationship|website=Discogs.com|access-date=2020-04-07}}</ref>
{{refend}}

===Theatre===
{{refbegin}}
*''Emma'' (1976)
*''Daughter of Venus'' (1985)
*''Marx in Soho'' (1999)
{{refend}}

==See also==
* List of peace activists

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Duberman, Martin. ''Howard Zinn: A Life on the Left''. (The New Press, 2012).
* Ellis, Deb and Mueller, Denis. ''Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train''. (film 2004)
** {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060507103518/http://firstrunfeatures.com/product418.html |date=May 7, 2006 |title=FRF's Judith Mizrachy interviews Deb Ellis and Denis Mueller, directors of the film ''Howard Zinn: You can't be neutral on a moving train'' }}. Retrieved 2010-03-09.
* {{cite book|last1=Grabar |first1=Mary |title=Debunking Howard Zinn: Exposing the Fake History That Turned a Generation against America |publisher=Regnery Publishing |date=2020b |isbn=9781684511525}}
* Greenberg, David. "Agit-Prof: Howard Zinn's influential mutilations of American history", [https://newrepublic.com/article/112574/howard-zinns-influential-mutilations-american-history ''The New Republic'' March 19, 2013]
* Joyce, Davis D. ''Howard Zinn: A Radical American Vision''. ([[Philosophy:Prometheus Books|Prometheus Books]], 2003).
* Lynd, Staughton. ''Doing History from the Bottom Up; On E.P. Thompson, Howard Zinn, and Rebuilding the Labor Movement from Below.'' Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2014.

=== Interviews ===
* [https://archive.today/20130630143818/http://welcometoflavorcountry.com/2013/04/01/an-interview-with-howard-zinn/ 2001 Interview with Howard Zinn about ''A People's History of the United States'', religion, and movies]
* [https://www.guernicamag.com/a_peoples_history_of_howard_zi/ Interview with ''Guernica: a magazine of arts and politics''].
* [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1524095 ''The Tavis Smiley Show'': "Howard Zinn and the Omissions of U.S. History"], November 27, 2003, National Public Radio.
* [https://revolutionbythebook.akpress.org/2010/01/an-interview-with-howard-zinn-on-anarchism-rebels-against-tyranny/ An Interview with Howard Zinn on Anarchism: Rebels Against Tyranny] by AK Press
* [http://www.cwmorse.org/archives/perspectives.on.anarchist.theory.vol7.no1-spring2003.pdf "War is the Health of the State: An Interview with Howard Zinn"], By Paul Glavin & Chuck Morse, ''Perspectives on Anarchist Theory'', Vol. 7, No. 1, Spring 2003
* "A Great Faith in Human Beings." In Klin, Richard and Lily Prince (photos), ''Something to Say: Thoughts on Art and Politics in America''. (Leapfrog Press, 2011)

=== Obituaries ===
* [http://www.beaconbroadside.com/broadside/2010/01/helene-atwan-the-loss-of-howard-zinn.html#more Helene Atwan, director of Beacon Press on "The Loss of Howard Zinn" January 29, 2010].
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/us/29zinn.html Howard Zinn, Historian, is Dead at 87], By Michael Powell, ''{{wipe|The New York Times}}'', January 28, 2010
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100311224020/http://www.oxonianreview.org/wp/howard-zinn-death-of-an-historian/ Obituary]}} in the ''Oxonian Review''

=== Videos ===
* [https://bigthink.com/videos/the-legacy-of-howard-zinn-2 The Legacy of Howard Zinn]  – video by Big Think
* [https://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/8/howard_zinn_three_holy_wars Howard Zinn on why there are no just wars: "Holy Wars"] – video by ''Democracy Now!''
* {{YouTube|Arn3lF5XSUg|''Empire or Humanity?: What the Classroom Didn't Teach Me about the American Empire''}}; by Howard Zinn; Narrated by Viggo Mortensen
* [http://www.zinnedproject.org/why#video Howard Zinn's talk to teachers at the 2008 National Conference for the Social Studies (NCSS)] hosted by the Zinn Education Project
* [https://www.c-span.org/video/?196261-1/power-governments-suppress Zinn Speaking About his Book ~ ''A Power Governments Cannot Suppress''] – one-hour speech by {{wipe|C-SPAN}}
* {{YouTube|DbaizDSg1YU|Howard Zinn on Marxism, Anarchism, and the Paris Commune}} interviewed by Sasha Lilley, November 5, 2009
* [http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/28/howard_zinn_1922_2010_a_tribute Howard Zinn (1922–2010): A Tribute to the Legendary Historian with Noam Chomsky, Alice Walker, Naomi Klein and Anthony Arnove]
* ''American Feud: A History of Conservatives and Liberals'' documentary featuring interviews with Howard Zinn and others
* [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF693DB36A8412B6B Zinn on Class in America] – Interview series on The Real News (TRNN) (6 videos) – April 2009
* [http://www.mediaed.org/new-release-howard-zinns-emma/ Interview with Howard Zinn] Media Education Foundation (MEF) – July 2005
* {{YouTube|X-HjcTtCLQs|The Power of Story: The People Speak}}  at The 2020 Sundance Film Festival

==External links==
* [http://howardzinn.org HowardZinn.org]
*{{Internet Archive author |sname= Zinn, Howard}}
* [http://progressive.org/topics/howard-zinn/ Column archive] at ''The Progressive''
* {{IMDb name|0957016}}
* {{C-SPAN|41067}}
** [https://www.c-span.org/video/?171876-1/depth-howard-zinn ''In Depth'' interview with Zinn, September 1, 2002]
* [http://vault.fbi.gov/Howard%20Zinn%20/ "Howard Zinn"], FBI Records: The Vault, vault.fbi.gov
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200627070559/https://www.zinnedproject.org/ Zinn Education Project]
* [https://www.howardzinn.org/grades-not-instruments-of-war/ "My Grades Will Not Be Instruments of War"]
*[http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/tamwag/tam_542/ Howard Zinn Papers], Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University Special Collections

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zinn, Howard}}
[[Category:Philosophers of culture]]
[[Category:Philosophers of education]]
[[Category:Secular humanists]]
[[Category:Social philosophers]]

{{Sourceattribution|Howard Zinn}}