HOWARD ZINN – 1922 to 2010 January 28, 2010 (Michael Greenwell)

[Tace]

Michael Greenwell -- World News Trust

Jan. 28, 2010

“When I was studying in college I found I was being taught basically the same world view the same version of history as I had been taught in school … only with footnotes.” --Howard Zinn

Because I travel around a bit it is difficult sometimes to get books (or get decent ones) in English. Therefore I am in the habit of downloading audio books and MP3s of lectures and so on. This way I get through a hell of a lot of “reading” and it is in this way that I have listened and relistened to everything I could get my hands on by Howard zinn, the “radical Historian” died yesterday at the age of 87.

It was in fact lucky that I covered his work in this way because in the lectures the humour and kindness of the man really showed through even in small things like stopping to praise the little girls who brought him a bottle of water during one lecture.

“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.” --Howard Zinn

“What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places — and there are so many — where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.” --Howard Zinn

The term “radical historian” is the one most used to describe Zinn and at first it almost seems to have a slightly oxymoronic quality about it when you first hear it. However, when you read Zinn’s work it seems a perfectly fitting title.

The thing is, I don’t want it to be.

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