A Young People's History of the United States - (For Young People) by Howard Zinn (Paperback)

About the Book

"Beginning with a look at Christopher Columbus's arrival through the eyes of the Arawak Indians, then leading the reader through the struggles for workers' rights, women's rights, and civil rights during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and ending with the current protests against continued American imperialism, Zinn presents a radical new way of understanding America's history. In so doing, he reminds readers that America's true greatness is shaped by our dissident voices, not our military generals. A Young People's History of the United States is also a companion volume to The People Speak, the film adapted from A People's History of the United States and Voices of a People's History of the United States"--

Book Synopsis

A Young People's History of the United States brings to US history the viewpoints of workers, enslaved people, immigrants, women, Black people, Latino Americans, Asian Americans, American Indians, and others whose stories, and their impact, are rarely included in books for young people.

Beginning with a look at Christopher Columbus's arrival through the eyes of the Arawak Indians, then leading the reader through the struggles for workers' rights, women's rights, and civil rights during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and ending with the current protests against continued American imperialism, Zinn presents a radical new way of understanding America's history. In so doing, he reminds readers that America's true greatness is shaped by our dissident voices, not our military generals.

A Young People's History of the United States is also a companion volume to The People Speak, the film adapted from A People's History of the United States and Voices of a People's History of the United States.

Review Quotes

"Zinn has written a brilliant and moving history of the American people from the point of view of those who have been exploited ... the book is an excellent antidote to establishment history ... While the book is precise enough to please specialists, it should satisfy any adult reader." --Library Journal

"A Young People's History of the United States offers students a valuable tool to learn outside the textbook." --Deborah Menkart, executive director, Teaching for Change

"Zinn's work exemplifies an approach to history that is radical, regardless of its subject or geographical location. He tells us the untold story, the story of the world's poor, the world's workers, the world's homeless, the world's oppressed, the people who don't really qualify as real people in official histories. Howard Zinn painstakingly unearths the details that the powerful seek to airbrush away. He brings official secrets and forgotten histories out into the light, and in doing so, changes the official narrative that the powerful have constructed for us. He strips the grinning mask off the myth of the benign American Empire. To not read Howard Zinn is to do a disservice to yourself." --Arundhati Roy

"[Zinn] gives a real insight into history that is often left out of textbooks. Highly recommended." --Socialist Review

About the Author

The visionary historical work of professor and activist HOWARD ZINN (1922-2010) is widely considered one of the most important and influential of our era. After his experience as a bombardier in World War II, Zinn became convinced that there could no longer be such a thing as a "just war," because the vast majority of victims in modern warfare are, increasingly, innocent civilians. In his books, including A People's History of the United States, its companion volumeVoices of a People's History of the United States, and countless other titles, Zinn affirms the power of the people to influence the course of events.

REBECCA STEFOFF is the author of more than 100 nonfiction books for children and young adults, and she has adapted several best-selling history books for younger readers.