Zinn's A People's History of the United States coming to the History Channel narrated by Matt Damon

[Lorax7844]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/30/matt-damon-on-his-politic_n_247597.html

"The Bourne Ultimatum" star reads the declaration in "The People Speak," an upcoming History Channel movie co-executive produced by Damon and based on Howard Zinn's book, "A People's History of the United States." Joining Damon in reading letters, speeches and text from famous and not-so famous Americans are such stars as Josh Brolin, Viggo Mortensen, Morgan Freeman and Marisa Tomei."

[Echo In Light]

1. Rec!

[WilliamPitt]

2. Damon narrated the Audio Book of People's History

and did a fine job. This'll be good.

[Ignis]

10. Is that so?

Thanks, you just solved my dilemma of what to buy my mum for her birthday this year. :)

[WilliamPitt]

11. Great stuff

Makes long rides very educational. :)

[kimmylavin]

45. Yes, go for it.

It was great. Really well done.
Keep in mind, though, that Matt only reads the abridged version (at least as far as I can tell), so a paperback/audio combo may be best. :)

[Kat45]

70. He also quoted from the book in "Good Will Hunting"

I thought that was pretty cool

[Greyhound]

3. My sister has satellite, now I have a reason to watch something this fall.

:kick: & R

[Caliman73]

4. BUT BUT, what about the hunt for Bigfoot, or Nostradamus, and the antichrist?

They are finally putting something on the history channel worth watching.

[rurallib]

14. same thought crossed my mind

how can the History channel justify putting on shows about history?

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. Those pay for things like this...

they have quite a bit of a following for Nostradamus, et al (I watch them as a science fiction writer... you cannot beat big foot for a critter on another world, and those UFO programs are great for fodder, ahem fiction fodder)... but that crap funds things like the Revolution, which does not have the same following.

It says more about our society than I ever want to consider...

[Caliman73]

24. I used to watch

When they were doing more actual history, like the Crusades and the Tsars but now it's like MTV. They don't show any history just Truckers, Loggers, and crap about Alaska.

I do admit that I liked their shows about "The Presidents" and "The States".

[puebloknot]

43. Hey, hey! As someone who watched a UFO doing its various turns ...

... and disappearances before my very eyes, along with my 16-year old very smart, non druggie daughter, and as someone whose brother, an air force aircraft mechanic, was followed across the desert from Roswell, NM to El Paso, TX in the 1960s, and who declared that "We don't have aircraft that can do what that thing did," I'd say that journalistic detachment should perhaps refrain just a tad from declaring the subject matter "crap."

A celebrated journalist neighbor in California, someone who was "Over There" and covered WWII, had a UFO sighting. 'Ere long, some "guys in black" came along and demanded the photos shot by the photographer who was with him when they were covering an unrelated story. They just happened to have a sighting.

On the other hand, the gatherings of UFO kooks in various venues every year turn me off, too.

UNIDENTIFIED. Let's keep that in mind.

And I'm absolutely ecstatic that Zinn's work is going to have an airing. I hope our space brothers enjoy it as much as I plan to! :)

[defendandprotect]

58. Never saw a UFO, but I obviously thing it is a major subject to be pursued . . .

what we've seen in the right-wing/Bush years looks more like a lid on any
real information --

Obviously, we all need more information on this, including the very frequent
sightings.

IMO, the only reason that this is kept so secret/taboo a subject is because
the military is using the information mainly to try to create weaponry and
weapon superiority -- including militarization of the skies.

This info all needs to be released to the public -- and it will be a public
in shock if they don't start getting some of this info out more regularly.

[RaleighNCDUer]

65. Oh, there IS plenty of crap out there - and I think a lot of it is deliberate

disinformation. Present enough crap that is given equal footing with genuine phenomena and it paints it ALL as crap.

That's not by accident.

[OhioBlue]

37. exactly - I used to love the History Channel and then several

years ago it stopped have "history" programs and seemed to air a bunch of crap. I'm so glad that they are gonna show this!

[defendandprotect]

57. Well . . . Discovery Channel was bought out by Clear Channel a few years ago . . .

presume that might have been all of A&E, including History Channel?

[pattmarty]

46. I guess we can always hope it's because they're running out of "crap".

[defendandprotect]

59. No . . . it's the typewriter theory . . . IMO . . .

government and all of the hierarchies -- including corporate press -- are
like a typewriter ... depends on who is doing the writing.

Things have changed a bit with the change in government -- a bit!

[pattmarty]

61. I know what you mean. Seems like more people and networks are.............

.............climbing on the "liberal bandwagon" now. It's also in the general public (although our education system doesn't help) starting to shift ever so little leftward after 30 yrs of Reagan/conservative bullshit ideology.

[defendandprotect]

63. They've starved public education desperately . . .they were putting CIA money

into the Education budgets to hide the funding for CIA --

and then pointing to the figures and asking . . .

"Can we improve education by throwing money at it?"

Read about that some time ago - don't know when they stopped but evidently a long

ways back.

CIA was also funding right-wing Senators/Reps -- two mentioned were Rep. Gerald Fod

and Sen. Strom Thurmond -- but there were others.

CIA doing same thing here they've done in other countries to keep right-wing in power.

[Enrique]

5. good balance for the History Channel

i like them, but they're kind of enamored of war and weapons.

[supernova]

6. You Can't Be Neutral On a Moving Train

Link TV recently showed this and I finally got to record and watch it. Matt Damon narrated it too.

I was around then, and even precociously paying attention to the news and all the Vietnam coverage. But I really don't remember HZ making all these public appearances then. It was good to go back and see them.

edit: Glad the History Channel is picking up APHUS.

[Echo In Light]

20. Great doc! Sundance airs it regularly.

[Kingofalldems]

7. When the freepers hear about this--mom's basements will be

trashed all over the USA.

[pattmarty]

48. I don't think any of us here REALLY want to know what they're doing..........

.......in their mom's basements.

[myrna minx]

8. Excellent.

This may make the Big Foot Luftwaffe pilots from area 51 who are awaiting the Rapture channel worth watching again. :bounce:

[Libertyfirst]

26. I laughed out loud at that great description of the channel. n/t

[myrna minx]

30. I never, ever, ever thought I would miss "Victory at Sea"

marathons but I do. :hi:

[PVnRT]

9. I thought this was in the works for a long time

In fact, ever since Damon brought it up in "Good Will Hunting," there's been rumors about a "movie version" of Zinn's book. I am shocked and amazed that the History Channel is going to do it. Not for political reasons, but because it doesn't involve the Bible, UFOs, woo-woo garbage, truckers or loggers.

[ColbertWatcher]

23. Or Hitler. n/t

[defendandprotect]

60. Another really good book that should be a movie is "The Debt" -

by Randall Robinson --

about our nation having been built by slaves --

[rvablue]

12. Cool. n/t

[Orsino]

13. Wow!

:thumbsup:

[JitterbugPerfume]

15. this is going to be fantastic!

I rarely watch the History Channel but I will definately record this

I love my DVR

[EFerrari]

16. Excellent!

[followthemoney]

17. Must see TV. nt

[yesphan]

19. Standing for the national anthem

at ball games was very difficult for me after reading that book. It had a profound effect on the way
I thought about what I was taught in school.

[zipplewrath]

47. History I knew

I had trouble reading his book. Not because I was shocked, I knew much of what he had in there already. It was that it was all collected in one place, and not particularly "balanced" so to speak. I mean, considering that 99% of the rest of the books don't mention most of this stuff at all, it hardly needed to re-present much of that other history. I guess towards the end what I began to realize is that was a nice litany of our short comings, without the context that ultimately we "over came" much of what he wrote about critically. He even occasionally acknowledges that "ultimately" various problems were improved. I think one concept that he might have been trying to infuse in the book was a counter to the "great American" concept of history. The good, and the bad, are as much actions of the common man (and woman) in this country as it is those guys with faces on the money. We are taught so much about "great americans" in our history, often over looking that this country was really "built" both physically and otherwise by alot of nameless, faceless people, many whom weren't treated all that well while they did it.

I'd encourage you to continue to stand at the national anthem. But now, stand not so much in "reverence" but in deference to our past that brought us to this point, commitment to move us forward, and camaraderie with those with whom we must work to continue to over come our weaknesses and leverage our strengths. We haven't always lived up to our ideals. We can continue to try. For that, I'll stand and sing.

[yesphan]

53. Thanks

Zipplewrath. I appreciate your take on this matter.

[jamesatemple]

71. Me Too!

I really appreciate your contribution to this thread, Zipplewrath. I'm struggling through Zinn's book at the moment (easily read but requires a bit of "reflection time" during the reading). Having read "Lies My Teacher Told Me", I was aware of some of the things Zinn wrote about. But those points and others as well can depress me. I can handle the truth but I regret having been spoon fed since childhood on information calculated to mislead me, whether by parents or teachers. I suspect that they were just as ignorant as I.

Then, maybe a double-whammy of Zinn and Joe Badgeant ("Deer Hunting with Jesus") at the same time is just more than my poor brain can handle. Anyway, thanks for your comments.

[anonymous171]

21. AWESOME! nt

[ColbertWatcher]

22. IT'S ABOUT FUCKING TIME!

And who says liberals control Hollywood?

k+r.

[asdjrocky]

25. That is indeed good news and-

long, long, LONG over due.

[Better Believe It]

27. K & R That's wonderful!

[mzmolly]

28. Looking forward!

:hi:

[Kurovski]

29. K&R. (nt)

[Dinger]

31. My Mom Got Me That For A Birthday Present A Few Years Ago : )

This is great news! Thanks for posting.:)

[ShamelessHussy]

32. Hope it comes to hulu, too!

[Amos Moses]

33. I'm a couple of chapters into the book right now.

It is absolutely heart breaking.

[Fendius]

34. Wow!!

THC is really gonna air this?? I was starting to think they were being pushed out of good shows because of money and business.. Good for them and everyone involved.. Hope people watch this..

[diane in sf]

35. I saw it live, it's great!

[DUlover2909]

36. Good. Matt Damon is a clear LIB and that's awesome.

:kick:

[troubledamerican]

40. I'll take J. Bourne over J. Bond any day

[Bjorn Against]

38. This was in the Star Tribune today but they didn't even mention it was Zinn

It is quite telling that they ran a story about a movie without even telling us the title of that movie. All they said was that it was a documentary on the history channel with readings by Matt Damon, Danny Glover and several other actors. They couldn't even bring themselves to mention Zinn's name, that says so much about the media.

On edit: I see the book and author is mentioned on the Star Tribune website, but it was not in the paper version I saw this morning.

[MrMickeysMom]

39. I had better finish the book, now hadn't I?

I can't think of a better series, if Ken Burns did it himself.

This is an excellent read, but I'm afraid I've been only able to read no more than 5 or 6 pages at at time.... There is so much to comprehend.

KNR!

[shellgame26]

41. Great

would love if Ken Burns did it, but hopefully this should work.

[Jkid]

42. Only problem, the conservatives will come out of the wood work

...and claim that A&E and by extension Hollywood has a liberal bias.

And will not even bother to watch the rest of History Channel's programing.

[Douglas Carpenter]

44. great to hear

[ThomWV]

49. along with UFO and Bermuda Triangle documentaries?

[graywarrior]

50. Awesome!

[stillrockin]

51. wow. i will definitely tune in.

[bertman]

52. This should be very educational for those who will watch it. I'm reading it now--have been

for weeks.

There's a lot to digest and it is not the sugar-coated, Rah Rah America version we're used to. The part about the Vietnam War brought me to tears. Remembering the guys I knew who died there or who were screwed up for the rest of their lives, and the cold, anti-communist rhetoric that was used to sell what was just another corporate war, was just too much.

Matt Damon is really putting his money where his mouth is.

Recommend.

[mod mom]

54. EXCELLENT! I also recommend his children's version to parents:

Howard Zinn's "A Young Person's History of the United States"

http://nymag.com/family/kids/books/34439/

[pleah]

55. K&R

[defendandprotect]

56. It seems like a pressure point has been released since election '08 . . .

TV is loosening up a bit --

I don't watch much but noticed "Poppy" -- or is it "Popi" . . . is back -
movie with Alan Arkin -- a Puerto Rican in NY who tries to turn his two boys
into Cuban refugees by sending them off in a boat off Florida coast to give
them a new life!

"Shoes of the Fisherman" pointing to the great wealth of the Vatican -- !!!

Love Howard Zinn!!!

*******************

[redqueen]

62. Oh wow... nice.

I hope they show it a few times.

[grahamhgreen]

64. Awesome! I hope they start it exactly like the book opens with the account of the Arawaks. LINK

Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress
by Howard Zinn

Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the island's beaches and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food, water, gifts. He later wrote of this in his log:

They ... brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells. They willingly traded everything they owned... . They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features.... They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane... . They would make fine servants.... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.



http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinncol1.html

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

66. Somehow the History Channel will find a way to fuck it up.

I don't remember Zinn writing about Hitler's haunted UFOs.

[Solomon]

67. That's what scares me too. The History Channel normally does

revisionist type stuff.

[dem mba]

68. that's great news - nt

[Joey Liberal]

69. Can't wait to see it! nt