Working In These Times
What We Miss: Howard Zinn, 1922-2010
(Photo from www.howardzinn.org)
By Richard Greenwald
When Howard Zinn passed away on January 27, we lost a champion of the progressive movement and working people. Zinn was able to do what other academics only can dream of: reach large numbers of Americans. He became a cultural figure during the last 15 years. As the author of 20 books, through his years as a teacher, Zinn seemed a man on a mission.
Howard Zinn reminded whole generations that workers mattered. His work synthesized that of a whole generation of labor and working-class historians for a larger audience. Thousands of high-school students, college students, and just plan regular folks read his work and learned a great lesson.
His passing marks the loss of a generation of left intellectuals whose aim was to reach beyond the academy, and into the streets. I think of Studs Terkel, who passed in 2008, as another hero gone. These were men who were not careerist academics, were dedicated activists and intellectuals—they didn’t see a divide. They inspired our generation to be more than a witness and chronicler of our world. They reminded us of the power of the word.
Zinn’s greatness was his ability to place workers, slaves, indigenous people and others lacking power back into history as players not victims. Sure, other have done this. But few have done it as gracefully and with such talent. We forget that Zinn was a very good writer, something many ignore and too few emulate. His ability to fold into his narrative the details of the past allowed thousands to enter into the conversation.
Rereading A People’s History after his death, I was blown away by his narrative force, the beauty of his prose, and force of his argument. He did not bend one for the other. They seemed naturally to fit together. And, I think that was his genius, this ability to be writer, historian and radical at once.
In reading the obituaries and remembrances of Zinn, I am sad not just for those who knew him well, as that is a loss I can only imagine. What saddens me, honestly, is that there appears to be no great emulators. Where is our generation’s Howard Zinn, the warrior intellectual?
I hope s/he emerges soon. We need them.
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He is great person and his commitment towards students are remarkable.
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Zinn was born to a Jewish immigrant relatives in Brooklyn. His sister, Eddie Zinn, born in Austria-Hungary, emigrated to the U.S. along with his brother Samuel before the outbreak of World War I. Howard’s sister Jenny Zinn emigrated from the Eastern Siberian city of Irkutsk.
Both parents were factory workers with limited schooling Las Vegas Web Design
when they met and married, and there were no books or magazines in the series of apartments where they raised their babies. Zinn’s parents introduced him to literature by sending 25 cents and a coupon to the New York Post for each of the 20 volumes of Charles Dickens’ collected works.[5] They also studied creative writing at Thomas Jefferson High School in a special program established by poet Elias Lieberman
Zinn was Professor of History at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia from 1956 to 1963, and Visiting Professor at both the University of Paris and University of Bologna.
Fresh from writing two books about his research, observations, and participation in the Civil Rights Kids Games movement in the South, Zinn accepted a position at Boston University in 1964. His classes in civil liberties were among the most popular at the university with as plenty of as 400 students subscribing each semester to the non-required class. A Professor of Political Science, they taught at BU for 24 years and retired in 1988.
He was such an inspirational person and had a great message to human civilization. He will be missed. Regards, earn money at home Work from home business
He is such a man that words cant explain. Very good article. He has touched many lives.
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What a great man. To have accomplish so much in a lifetime is absolutely phenomenal. He had a full life. Brisbane Web Design
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Howard Zinn (1922-2010). 2010 January 28. by m ... Jonathan Kozol and Wendell Berry are “still kicking” too but Zinn’s voice will be deeply missed. ... watch anime onlineAnyway, I think if we are to see another Zinn, he/she will need to be forged in the ...