Synopses & Reviews
Howard Zinn on War includes reflections on the Vietnam War, World War II, the recent wars against Iraq and in Kosovo, and on the meaning of war in a world where even the most advanced societies have proven themselves incapable of overcoming the primitive predilection for physically attacking their neighbors.
In his conclusion to the essay Just and Unjust War, Howard Zinn writes, It remains to be seen how many people in our time will make that journey from war to nonviolent action against war. It is the great challenge of our time: how to achieve justice, with struggle, but without war. In this powerful collection of new and selected essays, Zinn explores our warring ways over the last hundred years, as well as his own transformation from bombardier to pacifist, from Brooklyn Navy Yard shipfitter to anti-war activist.
Howard Zinn on War includes the essays Violence and Human Nature, Non-Violent Direct Action, The Bombing of Royan, Of Fish and Fisherman, A Speech for LBJ, Dow Shalt Not Kill, Aggressive Liberalism, The Curious Chronology of the Mayaguez Incident, The CIA, Rockefeller, and the Boys in the Club, What Did Richard Nixon Learn?, Machiavellian Realism and U.S. Foreign Policy: Means and Ends, Terrorism Over Tripoli; and others.
Review
"Zinn writes with an enthusiasm rarely encountered in the leaden prose of academic history, and his text is studded with telling quotations." The New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
Howard Zinn on War is Zinns choice of the writing that represents his thinking on a subject that concerned and fascinated him throughout his career. He reflects on the wars against Iraq, the war in Kosovo, the Vietnam War, World War II, and on the meaning of war generally in a world of nations that can't seem to stop destroying each other. These readings appeared first in magazines and newspapers including the Progressive and the Boston Globe, as well as in Zinn's books, Failure to Quit, Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal, The Politics of History, and Declarations of Independence.
Here we see Zinns perspective as a World War II veteran and peace activist who lived through the most devastating wars of the twentieth century and questioned every one of them with his combination of integrity and historical acumen. In his essay, "Just and Unjust War," Zinn challenges us to fight for justice "with struggle, but without war." He writes in "After the War" (2006) that while governments bring us into war, "their power is dependent on the obedience of the citizenry. When that is withdrawn, governments are helpless." In Howard Zinn on War, his message is clear: "The abolition of war has become not only desirable but absolutely necessary if the planet is to be saved. It is an idea whose time has come."
About the Author
Howard Zinn grew up in the immigrant slums of Brooklyn where he worked in shipyards in his late teens. He saw combat duty as an air force bombardier in World War II, and afterward received his doctorate in history from Columbia University and was a postdoctoral Fellow in East Asian Studies at Harvard University. His first book, La Guardia in Congress, was an Albert Beveridge Prize winner. He is the author of numerous books, including his epic masterpiece, A People's History of the United States, "a brilliant and moving history of the American people from the point of view of those who have been exploited politically and economically and whose plight has been largely omitted from most histories" (Library Journal). A professor emeritus of political science at Boston University, Zinn lives with his wife Roslyn in the Boston area, near to their children and grandchildren.