Howard Zinn's essay on Empire or Humanity? What the Classroom Didn't Teach Me says it better than I could dream of conveying about this nation's imperialism. This is an exceptional little video for clarity and teaching. Howard Zinn is a true hero of mine.
This animated video is adapted from this essay with visuals from the comic book and voiceover by Viggo Mortensen, as well as a section of the book on Zinn’s early life, is within the video above.
Howard Zinn is the author of A People’s History of the United States and Voices of a People’s History of the United States, now being filmed for a major television documentary. His newest book is A People’s History of American Empire, the story of America in the world, told in comics form, with Mike Konopacki and Paul Buhle in the American Empire Project book series.
4 comments:
Kate, have you read 1491? It's really excellent. I took some native american history & archaeology in college, but it was *just* when the Clovis/pre-Clovis stuff came out, and also we didn't cover a whole damn bunch of important stuff. 1491 is really well written and just full of stuff you never learned about in school.
In the same vein, but fiction: Louis Erdrich has some kids books out, I happened on them at the library and I'm halfway through one, and it's awesome and is about a metis family with a sprinkling of Ojibwe words all throught the book.
Also Kim Stanley Robinson wrote a really cool sci fi alternate history book where the plague wiped out Europeans the first time it hit, and history is shaped by the balance of power between the Islamic world and China, with the Eastern Confederacy (Hodenosaunee) getting really big and powerful before anyone starts colonizing North America. It's called "The Years of Rice & Salt" He has a global-warming book that's sort of cautiously cheerful, too - 40 Signs of Rain.
I love Zinn, and these are all things that remind me of his work somehow.
Thank you, Rosa. As usual you give me rich tips and much to think about. I am only just starting to think about getting back into reading again after some five years. I used to read constantly, and I got away from it. These all look delicious.
I'm glad you appreciate it. I realized after I commented that it was a little...pushy. I come from a family of readers but nobody I know with my politics reads fiction or outside their genre or whatever. So I'm always overflowing with comments about good books that nobody wants to hear.
Thanks for posting this. I enjoyed its insight.
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