RIP, Howard Zinn

One of my favorite writers, Howard Zinn, died today. His book, A People's History of the United States, has a prime position in my bookshelf, and helped many people question the standard drivel they're taught in American schools about the history of this country.

Howard Zinn on Barack Obama’s one year in the top job:

I’ve been searching hard for a highlight. The only thing that comes close is some of Obama’s rhetoric; I don’t see any kind of a highlight in his actions and policies.

As far as disappointments, I wasn’t terribly disappointed because I didn’t expect that much. I expected him to be a traditional Democratic president. On foreign policy, that’s hardly any different from a Republican–as nationalist, expansionist, imperial and warlike. So in that sense, there’s no expectation and no disappointment.

Comments

[Goli]

Albeit Hamid Dabashi has now officially crossed over to the dark side by becoming a mouthpiece on Iran for corporate media, i.e., CNN, I thought this commentary with an Iranian twist on the occasion of Salinger’s and Zinn’s passing was worth reading.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/01/30/dabashi.salinger.zinn.world/index.html

[Goli]

It was interesting to contrast the mainstream media’s (including NPR) coverage of Howard Zinn’s death to that of JD Salinger’s, both of whom passed away on the same day. While I remain (in my middle age) a big fan of the Catcher in the Rye, I could not believe the extensive “phony” media’s coverage of Salinger’s death compared to the little coverage Zinn’s death received. (Both the Catcher and People’s History are now recommended high school readings.)