Howard Zinn dead at 87.

[Chriss62]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010...ward-zinn-dies

This guy was a thinker. I can't believe he's dead.


R.I.P.

[jumbo_steelie]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! 87 is a good age but still.....

[Dr. Cheese]

RIP, he was a great historian.

[Chriss62]

Oh god, now Salinger died....

[Deluge Of Sound]

Title says it all.


He'll be missed.

[Bob Lee (QSC)]

Originally Posted by Dr. Cheese

RIP, he was a great historian.

Absolutely.

[bassman03]

87 or 89? There's another thread already and it says 89.

[bassrique]

I wish him the best in the afterlife, but a great historian he was not, unless you're partial to the likes of Noam Chomsky and Gore Vidal. TOS doesn't permit elaboration.

[Bob Lee (QSC)]

Originally Posted by bassrique

I wish him the best in the afterlife, but a great historian he was not, unless you're partial to the likes of Noam Chomsky and Gore Vidal. TOS doesn't permit elaboration.

Nevertheless, some who are not partial to Chomsky and Vidal find him a great historian.

[bassrique]

Originally Posted by Bob Lee (QSC)

Nevertheless, some who are not partial to Chomsky and Vidal find him a great historian.

Zinn was to history what Limbaugh and Olbermann are to current events/journalism.

[Bob Lee (QSC)]

I wouldn't rate Limbaugh and Olbermann that highly at all.

Zinn told of history from the non-elite side.

[FL Knifemaker]

Originally Posted by bassrique

I wish him the best in the afterlife, but a great historian he was not, unless you're partial to the likes of Noam Chomsky and Gore Vidal. TOS doesn't permit elaboration.

+1 Calling him a historian is an insult to actual historians.

[FL Knifemaker]

Originally Posted by Bob Lee (QSC)

Nevertheless, some who are not partial to Chomsky and Vidal find him a great historian.

Possibly. However, I would bet that MOST who ARE partial to Chomsky and Vidal find him a historian much to their liking.

[stratovani]

Zinn told it like it was. Honest, unfiltered, and no BS. RIP.

[Bob Lee (QSC)]

Originally Posted by FL Knifemaker

Possibly. However, I would bet that MOST who ARE partial to Chomsky and Vidal find him a historian much to their liking.

Perhaps. Does it matter?

People who are interested in history--and not just the conventional history of the elites, the politicians, industrialists, generals, religious leaders, et al, but also that of the forgotten grunts who labored in the fields and factories, who fought the wars and trod the highways, who made this country--would do well to read Zinn's A People's History of the United States. I don't find their inclusion in history distasteful in the least.

[Bob Lee (QSC)]

Originally Posted by FL Knifemaker

Possibly. However, I would bet that MOST who ARE partial to Chomsky and Vidal find him a historian much to their liking.

Hmm, you just called him a historian.

[gkbass13]

Listening to his "holy wars" lecture was awe inspiring. A truly great thinker.

[TBrett]

Originally Posted by stratovani

Zinn told it like it was. Honest, unfiltered, and no BS. RIP.

+1. RIP. Sorry to lose his voice from the planet.

[bassrique]

Originally Posted by Bob Lee (QSC)

Perhaps. Does it matter?

People who are interested in history--and not just the conventional history of the elites, the politicians, industrialists, generals, religious leaders, et al, but also that of the forgotten grunts who labored in the fields and factories, who fought the wars and trod the highways, who made this country--would do well to read Zinn's A People's History of the United States. I don't find their inclusion in history distasteful in the least.

A historian chronicles the facts with objectivity. "A People’s History of the United States" was an opinion piece. It's loaded with cheery-picked facts taken out-of-context. I suspect the man was a communist. He put so much effort and entertaining thought to demonize the US, but what about Mao, Stalin, Castro and the Sandinistas?

I like provocateurs of all stripes as they are fun to read, but let's not make the mistake of characterizing such literature as a legitimate and scholarly presentation of history.

[FL Knifemaker]

Originally Posted by Bob Lee (QSC)

Hmm, you just called him a historian.

Context, con-TEXT