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Howard Zinn

ハワード・ジン

Hawādo Jin

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1922-08-24 （New York City (Brooklyn)）
Died
2010-01-27 （Santa Monica, California） age 87
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Religion
Judaism (family background)
Residence History
Brooklyn, New York → Atlanta, Georgia → Boston, Massachusetts → Santa Monica, California

Career

Occupations
Historian, Educator, Author, Playwright, Activist
Active Years
1941-2010
Affiliations
Spelman College, Boston University, Zinn Education Project
Influenced By
Richard Hofstadter, Karl Marx (early writings)
Influenced
Alice Walker, Marian Wright Edelman, Many teachers and students (via the Zinn Education Project)

Education

New York University
Degree: BA
Period: 1946–1951
Year of Graduation: 1951
Country: United States
Attended on the GI Bill
Columbia University
History
Degree: MA
Period: 1951–1952
Year of Graduation: 1952
Country: United States
Master's degree
Columbia University
History
Degree: PhD
Period: 1952–1958
Year of Graduation: 1958
Country: United States
Doctoral dissertation 'Fiorello LaGuardia in Congress' later published
Harvard University (postdoctoral)
East Asian Studies
Period: 1960–1961
Country: United States
Post-doctoral fellowship in East Asian Studies

Awards

Thomas Merton Award
1991
Organization: Thomas Merton Center (Pittsburgh)
Result: 受賞
Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award
1996
Organization: Peace Abbey
Result: 受賞
Eugene V. Debs Award
1998
Organization: Eugene V. Debs Foundation
Result: 受賞
Firecracker Alternative Book Award (Politics)
1998
Work: The Zinn Reader: Writings on Disobedience and Democracy
Category: 政治
Organization: Firecracker Award
Result: 受賞
Lannan Literary Award (Nonfiction)
1998
Organization: Lannan Foundation
Result: 受賞
Upton Sinclair Award
1999
Organization: Upton Sinclair Award (organizers)
Result: 受賞
Prix des Amis du Monde diplomatique
2003
Work: French edition of A People's History of the United States
Organization: Les Amis du Monde diplomatique
Result: 受賞
Havens Center Award for Lifetime Contribution to Critical Scholarship
2006
Organization: Havens Center (University of Wisconsin)
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

A People's History of the United States

1980 History (people's history) 725 pages

A highly influential alternative history that tells U.S. history from the perspective of indigenous peoples, enslaved people, workers, women, and activists rather than elites. Widely used as a counterpoint to standard textbooks.

Labor historyCivil rightsImperialism and resistanceIndigenous perspectives
Adaptations
  • [Documentary/Film] The People Speak (2010)
Translations
  • Une histoire populaire des États-Unis (French edition title)

You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times

1994 Memoir / Autobiography 320 pages

Zinn's personal history and reflections on activism, the craft of history, and the importance of civil disobedience and critical education.

Civil disobedienceHistory educationAnti-war movement
Adaptations
  • [Documentary] Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train (2004)

Bibliography

  • LaGuardia in Congress (1959)
  • The Southern Mystique (1962)
  • SNCC: The New Abolitionists (1964)
  • Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal (1967)
  • The Politics of History (1970)
  • The Zinn Reader (1997)
  • A People's History of the United States (1980, various editions)
  • You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train (1994)

Adaptations

  • Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train (2004 documentary)
  • The People Speak (2010 documentary, based on A People's History)

Translations of Works

  • A People's History translated into French and many other languages

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Accessible, popular narrativeArgumentative and polemical commentaryEmphasis on first-person accounts and primary testimonies
Recurring Motifs
Class struggleResistance and popular movementsCritique of state and militarismGiving voice to suppressed peoples

Health

  • Heart attack (fatal)
    2010
    Died of an apparent heart attack in 2010 while at a hotel pool in Santa Monica

Legacy

Howard Zinn transformed public history with A People's History, popularizing a critical, bottom-up approach to the past. Through activism and projects like the Zinn Education Project, his influence on teachers and students endures.

Museums

  • No dedicated museum (collections held in archives)

Academic Societies

  • American Historical Association (engaged)

Archives

  • Howard Zinn Papers (Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, NYU)

In Popular Culture

  • You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train (documentary, 2004)
  • The People Speak (2010) film/project

Quotes

  • You can't be neutral on a moving train.
    Source: Book 'You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train' (1994) and the documentary of the same name (1994)

Trivia

  • Served as a bombardier in World War II; his wartime experience informed his later anti-war views.
  • Was fired from Spelman College in 1963 for alleged 'radicalizing' of students; returned in 2005 to receive an honorary degree.
  • Had extensive FBI files released under FOIA.
  • Married Roslyn Shechter in 1944.