Description

Howard Zinn shows in this engaging lecture why he is our foremost historian of political struggle, of social movements and the forgotten or suppressed parts of our history. He traces the origins of his work to his working class background and his first teaching job, at a black college in Georgia in 1956, where he and his students were among the leaders of the civil rights movement.

Zinn tells how the civil rights, labor, and anti-war and women's struggles became both the inspiration for and the subjects of his groundbreaking research and writing. He tells the stories of ordinary people who thrust themselves into history-making situations, and how such struggles have been ignored, suppressed and distrorted by both the media and traditional historians.

Howard Zinn is professor of History emeritus at Boston University, and author of numerous books.