22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating perspective - perfect for a winter road trip, January 1, 2005
This review is from: A People's History of the United States CD (Audio CD)
This book presents a decidedly bottom-up perspective on American history, and it'll make you question the motivations and hidden messages behind everything you learned in school. Zinn's book is particularly suited to book-on-tape - it's got a lot of detail, but the writing is clear and concise. You might be surprised at how great of a reader Matt Damon is! He brings just enough character to the voices of the primary sources. If you have a long road trip coming up, I would recommend this book to spark deep political thought and conversation.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A different perspective, September 28, 2004
This review is from: A People's History of the United States CD (Audio CD)
Howard Zinn's A People's History of The United States is a fascinating book that reveals historys from a unique standpoint. While many school text books sugar-coat American history and downplay the faults of many key figures in our past, Zinn is brutally honest and reflects the past through the eyes of those who lived it. The book is laceed with eyewitness accounts and makes for an enjoyable and memorable read. While the vast ammount of detail can make the text a bit tetious at times, this book is a treasure for anyone looking to increase their knowlegde of the history of the United States.
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13 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply stated, the Best History Book Ever Written, January 4, 2006
This review is from: A People's History of the United States CD (Audio CD)
This impecably researched, easy to read and understand writing style tells the truth about our Nation and the world.
The sickness of how the propaganda loaded, revisionist history that has infiltrated our schools have had a horrific effect to the literacy rate, knowlege of geography, history, lack of voting and involvement in our democracy.
All textbooks in schools are from the point of view of the "Ruling Class" and dominant culture and DO NOT represent reality or the lives of 99% of the people.
Zinn's book tells the story of the citizens of America, rather than painting stiff, cardboard cutouts of our political leaders who come off like divine Kings and Queens.
Most of the books is told from actual quotes, diaries, government documents, legal documents and words of people from that era.
The shocking reality of what happened to the soldiers who were abused and unpain in the War of Independance. The fact that onlyu large land owners could participate in the creation of our government or even HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE, is amazing.
The importants of uprisings of American's NEVER MENTIONED in our history books, like the the revolt of non-landowners or renters, the Civil War veterens who come out without getting their entire pay and wind up in debters jail.
The fact that our "founding fathers" were wealthy landowners who "owned" other humans (slaves).
The facts that the revolutiony war WAS NOT about freedom, but about Landowners who rebelled against paying taxed to England. For 90 plus percent of Americans, the Revolutionary war was of no consquence to them. But, most of the colonists, the non-landowners were bullied, and forced into service.
The writings of Thomas Jefferson which were clear about his distain of the evils of Christianity and importance of keeping religion out of the government, specifically Christianity.
The best, with flawless research and references.
Howard Zinn is a TRUE patriot and American.
I hope that the reality of this would allow our citizens to become active in keeping a democracy and creating a nation of VALUE DRIVEN citizens and a desire to make the world a better place to live.
Everyone really needs to read the quotes from Columbus's diary and letters. They really are sickening, but show the truth.
How can anyone "discover" America, when there are people and fully evolved cultures already in existance. The Europeans infected our Americans with lies, slavery, destruction of their culture, rape, murder, stealing of native American's resources and having total disrespect for anything but their anglo-Christian culture. The explorers were nothing but a group of organized crime thugs who came to steal and rape.
This book outlines the actions from absolutely "bullet proof" research and documentation.
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