WI: No "A People's history of the United States"

I read this book, and personally disliked it whole heartedly. I think it completely missinterprets history. Published in 1980, this book has been the essential guide for the perception given in most history text books(at least those used by public schools). I was wondering what might society be like now if either this book was never written, or never published? would there be any signifficant effect, or would someone else come along and write essentially the same thing?
 
well, you'd butterfly away "killing hope". Tried to get through it a few times. Not a pleasant book. Especially when it refers to US policy after 1945 as an "American Holocaust"
 
well, you'd butterfly away "killing hope". Tried to get through it a few times. Not a pleasant book. Especially when it refers to US policy after 1945 as an "American Holocaust"

But not American foreign policy before 1945, in which the US did that kind of thing to benefit the Soviet Union.

(Seriously, Stalin was the most odious "friendly dictator" of all time. And he condemns the US for sending people back to Kuwait to be killed in 1991 when the US and UK did the same thing to the Cossacks in 1945.)

To Blum's credit, a lot of the stuff he says is true. But at the same time, a lot of the stuff he says is not, and the stuff he says that isn't true is ridiculous (he blames the West for the USSR being oppressive and basically endorsed the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan).
 
I mean excessively. For instance when the atrocities of Japan are glossed over in favour of extended discussion of the internment camps.

If the focus is the US itself rather than the big picture, then that's justified. I've seen textbooks that give equal bitching to both nations. Besides, with things like the Holocaust, it's not really right to accuse people of excessive over them, isn't it?
 

CalBear

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Well, we lose a pretty decent line out of Good Will Hunting.

That's about it.
 
I've never read Zinn's book, nor do I want to.

It's William Blum's book that uses the phrase "American Holocaust," not Zinn's book.

Zinn is antiwar in general--he was a bomber crewman in WWII and complained about an "unnecessary" bombing mission (attacking an isolated German unit that was sitting out in France somewhere waiting for the war to end).

He doesn't act like WWII is some holy war but the Cold War is EEVIL.
 
I'll just say this: someone gave it to me two Xmases ago. Scanned a few pages, went in the "never again to read" section (basement) of my library.
 
Well my 11th grade History class would have been more enjoyable. I had a teacher that was obsessed with it and she didn't react well to me calling bullshit on stuff in there.
On a broader level note sure what effects it would have. Unfortunately Zinn simply wrote the most sucessful work in an ideology common in certain sections of acadamia.
 
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