A People's History of the United States

The book provides great insight into the making of the United States, after the landing of Saint Columbus, and covering a very long period-till the presidency of Bill Clinton. The book really tells about the events faced by the common people, in making of the country. Recording the history of a nation requires a lot of research and access to documents and records. There is enough evidence to this end, seeing the size of the book and the background notes and references made. Any serious reader will learn a great deal while studying the book. It can serve as an important reference book for all curious readers. While historic events have made the US a great country, the price paid by its people has been unbelievable. This is a must book for all who want understand history of nation building.

Mr Howard Zinn has done extensive research in writing this book. Great read for anyone wanting to know about the struggles of people before gaining independence.

It is an experience to read the book. A peoples's response to the rise of American Capitalism.

This is a must read for everyone.

Brutally honest! I finished reading the 700 pages of American history with this lingering thought in my mind. USA is a land of immigrants and every year many hundreds of Indians vie for the visa or citizenship of this nation. I was incredibly curious to read about American history and this book satiated that curiosity. It covers the entire length of American history from Columbus landing to the events up to and following 9/11. That is a lot to cover and the book does it well. It covers in great details the revolution that led to American independence, the decades of black slavery that left the legacy of racism, the Vietnam war and other episodes of American incursions, how the Capitalist ideology gained and dominated successive US regimes with the resultant class strata in American society. The book can be somewhat overwhelming in details in patches and could have been better in its flow of narration, which I thought tended to switch between subjects rather sharply. But overall a very interesting read and brutally honest!

An amazing book that gives us an insight into the past of America, a must read for all the utterly bigotic trump supporters.

Superb! History from the point of view of the vanquished!

A very well written book. A must read indeed

I brought this book knowing fairly little of American History. I was keen to avoid a jingoistic book written solely to appeal to Americans. This book delivers on this very well, it details much of the European discovery of the new world and then starts to focus on North America and the USA. Naturally any description of the European conquest of the new world was going to be dark and at times grim but what I really appreciated about this book was that it does a good job of balancing the need to condemn these things with explaining them in context, this allows better understanding of why some of the awful aspects of Americas history occured. This includes the early genocides perpetuated by the spanish, and the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade, it is carefully explained how Americas hierarchical race system was not a naturally materialising system but was manipulated and brought into shape to enforce authoritarian order by a small elite group of wealthy individuals over a far more numerous populace of slaves and near-slave endentured servants brought over to serve them. The foundation of the USA is not at all portrayed as entirely negative, the role of higher enlightenment values is discussed in detail, but it is also made clear that the founding fathers were far from interested in the normal persons issues and we're very much a continuation of the aristocratic elite. This helps to comprehend Americas strange political system. I think I would distrust any book that glorified virtually any period from several hundred years ago and I think this books careful dissection of how America came to be is greatly helpful in helping understand the country and continent today. Having said that it is grim reading at times and I think having a good base line knowledge of Americas history from another book may be helpful as it's hard to appreciate a myth being debunked when you didn't know the myth in the first place. All in all Ide highly recommend especially for non Americans who want to understand the country a little bit more.

J'ai appris beaucoup de faits inconnus. Je recommande sa lecture même aux gens qui auraient des avis différents. Bonne base de discussions et de reflexions

I must give this book five stars, because the accuracy and research behind the book can only be described as first class. The book is a very long and definitely a hard slog but can be recommended to anyone who is interested in history, particularly American history, and is not convinced that he has heard the whole story. From beginning to end, the subject matter is extremely depressing. The author deals with the continuing persecution of non-whites, women and the poor by the rich, white ruling class and the vast sums spent on the military, leaving the poor without the most basic support. Particularly the way the American Indian has been treated over the centuries is intensely disturbing.

Vital reading for anyone in the US, and almost equally important for everyone else. This is the side of history nobody ever teaches in school - the story from the point of view of the common people, as opposed to the ruling elite. This is also one of the most entertaining books of history you're likely to find - never dry, always lively and fascinating. Some will inevitably quibble with Zinn's admittedly leftist perspective. But they won't be able to find much fault with his research. In fact, the book doesn't present any truly controversial information: there's nothing here that you can't easily verify. What's radical is the way the information is assembled. When you follow the story of the people - as opposed to that of a few rich, powerful and famous individuals - history takes on a very different aspect, and you never see the world quite the same way again. I actually bought this particular edition as a gift for someone. This is a book that begs to be shared.

A People’s History of the United States is a book about the history of the United States of America from the very beginning. It was written in 1980 by Howard Zinn. Zinn is a historian, political scientist, and a social activist. I think this a very good book to read because it not only tells about the history of the United States but it give the real truth about things that have never been discussed before. The book starts off at the very beginning of America. Some of the topics discussed range from Christopher Columbus’ travels to Hernando Cortes adventures. From there it talks about slavery and such. The book is written in a time line of history. It starts from the beginning and then goes on. In history there are many conflicts. Some that were discussed were about how Christopher Columbus Day has always been a celebration. After reading this book, you may have a different view on him. It then tells about the conflicts of slavery and gives very vivid details about the conditions that slavery really consisted of. This book is the real deal. It gives you the straight facts and information about history that you never knew about. Even though A People’s History of the United States was written in 1980 and may be considered an older book, it is still a good read. The realness of the book and how it gives so much information about history that is not taught in schools is what makes this book so great. It is a very important book and it should be read by others to understand the true history. I believe the reasons the book was/is popular still hold true because it is about history. It is telling the real truth about history. History will never become a subject that is forgotten. My judgement and evaluation on A People’s History of the United States is that the quality of writing was very strong. It shows strength in its vivid details and the choice of words that were used. One of my favorite quotes from the book is a piece quoted from the Virginia slave code. It says: “Whereas many times slaves run away and lie hid and lurking in swamps, woods, and other obscure places, killing hogs, and committing other injuries to the inhabitants...if the slave does not immediately return, anyone whatsoever may kill or destroy such slaves by such ways and means as he…shall think fit…If the slave is apprehended… it shall…be lawful for the county court, to order such punishment for the said slave, either by dismembering, or in any other way…as they in their discretion shall think fit, for the reclaiming any such incorrigible slave, and terrifying others form the like practices…” That quote is one of my favorites because it is so descriptive. Another one of my favorites is a quote by writer J. Saunders Redding as he describes the arrival of a ship in North America. It says: “Sails furled, flag drooping at her rounding stern, she rode the tide in form the sea. She was a strange ship, indeed, by all accounts, a frightening ship, a ship of mystery. Whether she was trader, privateer, or man-of-war no one knows. Through her bulwarks black-mouthed cannon yawned. The flag she flew was Dutch; her crew a motley. Her port of call, an English settlement, Jamestown, in the colony of Virginia. She came, she traded, and shortly afterwards was gone. Probably no ship in modern history has carried a more portentous freight. Her cargo? Twenty slaves.” That quote is another one of my favorites because it is also very descriptive. It paints a clear picture of the truth about what used to really happen. That to me is a very strong strength. In conclusion, my overall thoughts about the book are very positive. It has changed the way I look at history. It has showed me that there is a whole lot more truth about history than just what is taught in schools. One particular thing it has made me realize is that history is a lot more gruesome and violent than I originally thought. It also has given me a different perspective of Christopher Columbus. I do not see him the same as I once did. A People’s History of the United States was really an eye opener about giving the real truths about history.