The People's History & the Cold War

[Bekah]

Howard Zinn and People's Histories are necessary, imo.  They off-set the "official" line and allow readers to look at those elements which are not discussed in our normal history classes or books.   Yes,  fwiw,  I've read Zinn - and I had a hard time until I realized he was speaking for the Indians of Columbus' day,  for the  black slaves and women in the American Revolution,   the unionists in the 1880s,  and so on.  

In the first edition the source notes were slim and pathetic.  Historians correctly objected - this is no way for a history text to be written.  Zinn agreed and when it was realized how popular his book was,  he fixed a good bit of it and tracked down those elusive sources.   This book has been very popular for 30 + years now and it's been revised several times.  I read it in the early 1980s  and then again in about 1991 or 2 and it had changed some already.  

But there is a limit to the source material available when you study the history of groups of people with very low literacy rates - people who don't write diaries and journal entries and leave a paper trail.  Historians have to look at tangential evidence,  what was available to blacks, women, etc. What would have been common, usual?  It's really a puzzle but it deserves to be put together!  

Read the book -  read the chapters you're interested in - it's not a difficult read,   but it is different from the usual heavily referenced books on military adventures,  economic policies,  industrial revolution technologies,  etc.   This is from the pov of the people who were going to be free if England won the war - the women whose husbands left them to tend to the farm alone with marauding grey-coats (or blue) wandering through.  This is about the union organizers who were harassed for freedom of speech.  

Yes,  I suspect Pynchon might have read and appreciated Zinn's work.  

Bekah



On Dec 19, 2011, at 7:41 PM, Richard Fiero wrote:

> If one only likes official history written by the winners, one may not like Thomas Pynchon
> 
> Michael Bailey wrote:
>> Paul Mackin wrote:
>> >
>> > I've never read it but here's Wikipedia's take on People History . . .
>> >
>> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_People%27s_History_of_the_United_States
>> >
>> > Most of the criticism from historians is pretty negative.
>> >
>> 
>> at least they don't accuse him of mistakes of fact. and even the
>> harshest critics have some kind words for him.
>> 
>> I haven't read _People's History_ either, and I'm not sure when I'll
>> have the time.
>> 
>> Haven't even finished _Typee_ yet...but forging ahead slowly!
>