Rethinking America's past : Howard Zinn's "A people's history of the United States" in the classroom and beyond

No introductory work of American history has had more influence over the past forty years than Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States , which since its publication in 1980 has sold more than three million copies. Zinn’s iconoclastic critique of American militarism, racism, and capitalism has drawn bitter criticism from the Right, most recently from President Donald Trump, who at his White House Conference on American History in 2020 denounced Zinn as a Left propagandist and accused teachers aligned with Zinn of indoctrinating students to hate America and be ashamed of its history. Rethinking America’s Past is the first work to use archival and classroom evidence to assess the impact that Zinn’s classic work has had on historical teaching and learning and on American culture. This evidence refutes Trump’s charges, showing that rather than indoctrinating students, Zinn’s book has been used by teachers to have students debate and rethink conventional versions of American history. Rethinking America’s Past also explores the ways Zinn’s work fostered deeper, more critical renderings of the American past in movies and on stage and television and traces the origins and assesses the strengths and weaknesses of A People’s History in light of more recent historical scholarship. "No introductory work of American history has had more influence over the past forty years than Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, which since its publication in 1980 sold more than three million copies. Zinn's iconoclastic critique of American militarism, racism, and capitalism has drawn bitter criticism from the right, most recently President Trump, who denounced Zinn as a Left propagandist and accused teachers aligned with Zinn of indoctrinating students to hate America and be ashamed of its history. Rethinking the American Past: Howard Zinn's The People's History of the United States in the Classroom and Beyond is the first work to use archival and classroom evidence to assess the impact that Zinn's classic work has had on historical teaching and learning, and upon American culture. This evidence refutes Trump's charges, showing that rather than indoctrinate students, Zinn's book has been used by teachers to have students debate and re-think conventional versions of American history. Rethinking the American Past also explores the ways Zinn's work fostered deeper, more critical renderings of the American past in movies, on stage and television, tracing the origins, and assessing the strengths and weaknesses, of A People's History in light of more recent historical scholarship"-- Provided by publisher Cover Half Title Title Copyright Dedication Contents Introduction Chapter 1. Origins and Appeal Chapter 2. Before A People’s History Chapter 3. In High School Classrooms Chapter 4. “Dear Mr. Zinn”: Student Voices Chapter 5. Not Just for Kids Chapter 6. Teachers: A People’s Pedagogy Chapter 7. Retrospectives and Reviews Chapter 8. On Stage and Screen Acknowledgments Notes Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z Origins and appeal -- Before A people's history -- In high school classrooms : a case study of high school teaching and learning, 1986-2002 -- "Dear Mr. Zinn" : student voices -- Not just for kids -- Teachers : a people's pedagogy -- Retrospectives and reviews -- On stage and screen