The People's History & the Cold War

[Joseph Tracy]

From Wikipedia:
A People's History has become a major success as it has been set as assigned reading in many high schools and colleges across the United States.[1] 
   
	without evidence  a. wellintown proposes that, "No History major would make more of Zinn than mental floss... 
	 None would be a very small number of history majors.  Yet there is some actual evidence about that question. It seems likely that the 	history teachers and professors assigning the book are mostly history majors.  

The book was a runner-up in 1980 for the National Book Award. 
	
	Maybe they should have consulted Alice Wellintown before making this dreadful mistake

It has been frequently revised, with the most recent edition covering events through 2005. In 2003, Zinn was awarded the Prix des Amis du Monde Diplomatique for the French version of this book, Une histoire populaire des Etats-Unis.[2] Over one million copies have been sold.
        
  	
On Dec 21, 2011, at 5:17 PM, alice wellintown wrote:

>>> 
>> What about the argument that People's History's easy-to-read style and
>> clear-cut demarcation between good and evil make the book something high
>> school students or college freshmen might actually be induced to read,
>> whereas otherwise they would never read a book with history in the title at
>> all?  (history majors excluded of course)
> 
> You can nudge a book with its cover. Pynchon's latest, Inherent Vice,
> like a ceptic tank, has lush green grass on its cover. And what's in a
> rose by any other smell as sweet is wherefore a name has no meaning
> olfactory but to a chemist.
> Sure, the clash of good and evil, the underdog appeals to American
> kids and the minors. No History major would make more of Zinn  than
> mental floss american history or who built america or countless others
> like it. I do like the comic book version best. And, anything to get
> kids who won't read reading is not all bad. Most young people don't
> know history 101, so anything that can get them to first base is
> better than nothing. Zinn, the NY times. I like narrative history; a
> book like molly's job or nickled and dimed can work to get young
> people to connect.