Review: A People’s History of the United States

This book was written by Howard Zinn, who died last year.  Of all the people who died in the year 2010, he is someone who I never met, yet I will still miss him.  I re-read his book this winter, and I am going to do a multi-part review of aspects of his book, mainly by using quotes.

He starts off the book with a review of Columbus and his massacre of the native population where ever he went.  This reality is often justified by the conquering classes who benefited from a massacre, with the idea that this “sacrifice” had to be done to further human “progress”.  Zinn has this to say about that idea:

If there are necessary sacrifices to be made for human progress, is it not essential to hold to the principle that those to be sacrificed must make the decision themselves?  We can all decide to give up something of ours, but do we have the right to throw into the pyre the children of others, or even our own children, for a progress which is not nearly as clear or present as sickness or health, life or death? 

It is, of course, the ruling classes who decide who is to be sacrificed for that classes’ advancements, and the lower classes or the foreigners or (in this case) the poor native population who are the ones sacrificed – without anyone asking permission.

In response to US aggression towards Mexico in 1846, Horace Greenley wrote in the New York Tribune:

We can easily defeat the armies of Mexico, slaughter them by the thousands, and pursue them perhaps to their capital; we can conquer and “annex” their territory; but what then?  Have the histories of the ruin of Greek and Roman liberty consequent on such extensions of empire by the sword no lesson for us?  Who believes that a score of victories over Mexico, the “annexation” of half her provinces, will give us more Liberty, a purer Morality, a more prosperous Industry, than we now have?  …. Is not Life miserable enough, comes not Death soon enough, without resort to the hideous enginery of War?

It seems to me that those questions are still applicable today, with US military bases in over 700 countries and bombing or occupation going on in 4 countries and Special Forces working in over 75 countries. 

Here is another echo from the past that is reminiscent of today’s orientation of the US government:

In 1887, with a huge surplus in the treasury, Cleveland vetoed a bill appropriating $100,000 to give relief to Texas farmers to help them buy seed grain during a drought.  He said:  “Federal aid in such cases…. Encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character.”  But the same year, Cleveland used his gold surplus to pay off wealthy bondholders at $28 above the $100 value of each bond – a give of $45 million.

Yes, back then and today – socialism for the banksters and capitalism for the rest of us.