aliciasantiago's review against another edition
4.0
I started with this Zinn as a way to see if I want to read the People’s History. I definitely want to now.
nhusain14's review against another edition
5.0
"Western Civilization is complex. It represents many things, some decent, some horrifying. We would have to pause before celebrating it uncritically when we note that David Duke, the Louisiana Ku Klux Klan member and ex-Nazi says that people have got him wrong. 'The common strain in my thinking,' he told a reporter, 'is my love for Western civilization'
...It is the guardians of the old stories, the orthodox histories, who refuse to widen the spectrum of ideas, to take in new books, new approaches, new information, new views of history. They, who claim to believe in 'free markets,' do not believe in a free marketplace of ideas, any more than they believe in a free marketplace of goods and services. In both material goods and ideas, they want the market dominated by those who have always held power and wealth. They worry that if new ideas enter the marketplace, that people may begin to rethink the social arrangements that have given us so much suffering, so much violence, so much war these last five hundred years of 'civilization.'"
...It is the guardians of the old stories, the orthodox histories, who refuse to widen the spectrum of ideas, to take in new books, new approaches, new information, new views of history. They, who claim to believe in 'free markets,' do not believe in a free marketplace of ideas, any more than they believe in a free marketplace of goods and services. In both material goods and ideas, they want the market dominated by those who have always held power and wealth. They worry that if new ideas enter the marketplace, that people may begin to rethink the social arrangements that have given us so much suffering, so much violence, so much war these last five hundred years of 'civilization.'"
More...