A review by jedore
A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

challenging dark informative slow-paced

5.0

"The idea of saviors has been built into th entire (US) culture, beyond politics. We have learned to look to stars, leaders, experts in every field, thus surrendering our own strength, demeaning our own ability, obliterating our lwn selves." 

Well, THAT was hard work! Almost 700 pages of U.S. history, but this time from the perspective of the people, not the elite. 

This book made it abundantly clear how brainwashed so many American citizens have been about the history of their country by a school system that was literally created and designed to churn out obedient citizens. It worked for 52 years on me, but thanks to Howard Zinn, I'm onto them. 

Mr. Zinn is NOT a conspiracy theorist and there's nothing even remotely wacky about this book. He starts in 1492 and ends at the 9/11 debacle, sharing solid evidence, in painful, but necessary, detail, about the true underpinnings of this country and the struggle of the majority of it's citizens for basic survival. The amount of research that went into this book is absolutely mind boggling. 

In short, the elites have been running this country from the start and they not only use, but instigate, racial tension and military "incidents"/wars to protect or expand their power. The majority of laws, constitutional amendments, etc., bought them enough protection to keep doing what they were doing. I finally understand why so many people in other countries, particularly the Middle East, despise us. 

This book illuminated the underlying reason for the nightmare of the past several years, including Covid lockdowns and forced vaccinations, the present day book bans, and abortion flip flops. These are just continued, albeit grander, desperate attempts by the powers that be to retain, and even increase, power.

Though I believe every US citizen should read this book, that's a very tall order. It took me away from more enjoyable reading for almost 2 months and I felt like I was reading a textbook this entire time. That being said, to learn about all of the wars, ONE AFTER THE OTHER, all at once rather than one war at a time, was so eye opening. 

This book made my all-time favorites list, not because it was enjoyable to read, but because of how its knowledge has empowered me. They will fool me no more!
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