Cultural Writing. Politics. Howard Zinn, author of the classic A People's History of the United States, demonstrates how the U.S. response to the 9/11 attacks has not only unleashed wars in Afghanistan and Iraq but has also prompted a rollback of decades of struggle for democracy, civil rights, and government accountability here at home. A champion of the disadvantaged and oppressed, Zinn offers an inspiring counter-narrative to the State's ongoing "war on terror" and celebrates the flashes of democracy and resistance that are reason for hope. Written between September 11, 2005 and the spring of 2006, this timely collection features Zinn at his critical best.

Author City: Boston, MA USA

Howard Zinn (1922-2010) was raised in a working-class family in Brooklyn, and flew bombing missions for the United States in World War II, an experience he now points to in shaping his opposition to war. Under the GI Bill he went to college and received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. In 1956, he became a professor at Spelman College in Atlanta, a school for black women, where he soon became involved in the Civil rights movement, which he participated in as an adviser to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and chronicled, in his book SNCC: The New Abolitionists. Zinn collaborated with historian Staughton Lynd and mentored a young student named Alice Walker. When he was fired in 1963 for insubordination related to his protest work, he moved to Boston University, where he became a leading critic of the Vietnam War. In his liftetime, Zinn received the Thomas Merton Award, the Eugene V. Debs Award, the Upton Sinclair Award, and the Lannan Literary Award. He is perhaps best known for A People's History of the United States.