Name: A People's History of American Empire
ISBN: 9780805087444

Howard Zinn

Paul Buhle

Mike Konopacki

Adapted from the critically acclaimed chronicle of U.S. history, a study of American expansionism around the world is told from a grassroots perspective and provides an analysis of important events from Wounded Knee to Iraq, in a volume created in the format of a graphic novel. Simultaneous. 100,000 first printing.

A People's History of American Empire

Michael Springer

So, if there is a god, he/she/it/they doesn't hold my intellect in very high esteem.

He/she/it/they must think I'm an idiot.

See, a while back, I reserved Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything, and what I ended up arriving on the holds shelf was the children's version, complete with funny illustrations to try and walk teenagers through the theory of relativity. Now, I thought I had placed a hold on A People's History of the United States, and I ended up with this graphic novel.

It's quite possible I just suck at placing holds.

Anywho, I'll start with this graphic novel, and then launch into my rant. This is an adaptation of Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States into graphic novel form. The art was aight, but nothing to write home about, and that’s pretty much how I felt about the whole adaptation: the form doesn’t add much in the way of substance, although I’m sure this makes it more likely that some people intimidated by the pictureless tome would read this. 

Speaking of, here’s a picture of a cute baby panda, in case your attention was drifting.



I may be making shit up, but I’ve gotten a sense that conservatives dismiss Howard Zinn as a partisan who does nothing but poo-poo the U.S. of A., portraying it as politically corrupt. However, the same people who dismiss him for this join the Taxed Enough Already party, even though the party has no tea, nor any dancing or spiked punch. So, let us be consistent for a minute: IS the government overriding our freedoms or not? It doesn’t magically become invasive when a democrat’s in office, and then become Smokey the Safety Bear when a republican’s in office. These parties BOTH support constant foreign wars that are motivated by partially empirical motives. These parties BOTH supported big checks for the big banks as soon as they started whining. These parties BOTH agree on a lot of the big issues, and I think most of us disagree with both parties on these issues—or would, if these issues weren’t ignored by the media.

That said, even if you know you reject socialism as a political structure, you should read this book. (In whichever form you prefer.) Even if you don’t agree with some of Zinn’s positions, that doesn’t make the research he’s done invalid, nor does it make the facts he discusses false. This is a history book that challenges a lot of the assumptions taken by the history textbooks we’re forced to read in schools. Zinn believes the U.S. is accountable for its actions in Vietnam, World War I, and…well, ALL of its actions. This doesn’t mean he hates this country. It means he refuses to be blinded by nationalism. If we wear blinders regarding our own nation’s actions, why on earth would we expect to NOT be taken advantage of by those in power? When we look at the history of any other country, in any other time period, we can see intrigue, corruption, and a power structure that disfavors the poor. Why would we assume without research that the same thing isn’t happening in the U.S. right now? 

It is. 

Howard Zinn was one of our great historians, because he challenged the mainstream and saw his job as more than teaching history: he was a social activist that fought against injustices. It’s for his books that he’ll be remembered hundreds of years from now, but it’s for the whole of his life that I will say this:



Howard Zinn was badass.