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Book Reviews
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Voices of a People’s History of the United States
by Howard Zinn
(Seven Stories Press, 2005)
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Culture is defined as a system of shared beliefs, and American culture and beliefs are greatly influenced by our knowledge of history which we are taught at a young age. In the introduction to his new book Voices of a People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn argues that there is no such thing as purely objective history. Teachers of history present some facts and omit others to tell a story. And Voices, which is a companion to Zinn’s well known earlier book A People’s History of the United States, features speeches, letters, and memoirs of historical figures that have often been overlooked or ignored in traditional history books.
Voices is a thick volume with sections on different time periods from Christopher Columbus recounting his arrival in Hispaniola to members of the U.S National Guard writing about extended tours of duty and Julia Butterfly Hill describing her tree-sit in Northern California. Each piece is preceded by Zinn’s background notes which are helpful for events that readers may be unfamiliar with.
Voices is often at its best when it features ordinary people recounting history as they were involved in it. A good example is Larry Colburn’s account of encountering the My Lai massacre as a soldier in Vietnam and realizing “it was our guys doing the shooting.” There is also Vicky Starr’s piece about union organizing in a 1930s stockyard, where she says, “If you ever talked union you were fired. Jobs were at a premium. You didn’t have the law which guaranteed people the right to organize.” And earlier in the book Army soldier John Burnett describes his reluctant involvement in the Cherokee removal known as the “trail of tears,” which he calls the “blackest chapter on the pages of American history”.
Some of the speeches found in Voices may be familiar to readers. The book’s cover photo shows the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial for the 1963 March on Washington, and the book includes two 1967 speeches by Martin Luther King Jr. as well as speakers like Malcolm X, Chief Joseph, and Emma Goldman. Many people will remember civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hammer’s famous line at the 1964 Democratic Convention where she said “If the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party is not seated now, I question America.” But it’s also interesting to hear her recount the series of events that led her to the podium after she and a group of people “ traveled twenty-six miles to the courthouse in Indianola to try to register to try to become first class citizens.” It’s also interesting to hear a reporter for the Toledo Bee recount a 1903 speech by Mother Jones who had just returned from a trip to organize mineworkers in West Virginia, which she described as “a state where conditions are too awful for your imagination.”
Zinn’s book also introduces a number of less well known people and events that readers may want to learn more about. For example there are excerpts from George Jackson’s prison memoir Soledad Brother which recounts his political transformation after being sentenced to “one year to life” for stealing $71 worth of gasoline. The book also includes a passage from U.S Marine Corps major general Smedley Butler’s book War is a Racket where he says “ I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street.”
Because Voices includes such a wide range of topics and time periods, readers may be inclined not to read it straight through. But that being said, Howard Zinn has put together an excellent reference for both teachers and students of history as well as the casual reader. The best history books inspire readers to go out and learn more about the people and subjects presented. By introducing readers to the important but often underrepresented voices, Mr. Zinn has provided a valuable service to the study of history and people’s struggles.
Brad Johnson
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