More by Howard Zinn
Americans have been taught that their nation is civilized and humane. But, too often, U.S. actions have been uncivilized and inhumane.
I am supposing, or perhaps only hoping, that our future may be found in the past's fugitive moments of compassion rather than in its solid centuries of warfare.
A People's History of the United States (1980)
Voting is easy and marginally useful, but it is a poor substitute for democracy, which requires direct action by concerned citizens.
The Horatio Alger stories of "rags to riches" were true for a few men, but mostly a myth, and a useful myth for control.
A People's History of the United States (1980)
And the black population was transformed, having risen up in mass action for the first time, feeling its power, knowing now that if the old order could be shaken it could be toppled.
You Can't Be Neutral on A Moving Train (1994)
I am not an absolute pacifist, because I can't rule out the possibility that under some, carefully defined circumstances, some degree of violence may be justified, if it is focused directly at a great evil.
To put it briefly: the evidence is quite overwhelming on this matter. The Japanese had sent an envoy (Ambassador Sato) to Moscow (still officially a neutral) to work out a negotiated surrender.
While some multimillionaires started in poverty, most did not.
A People's History of the United States (1980)
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