Tomato Nation Read-Along #7: A People’s History of the United States
Howard Zinn edges Shannen Doherty at the last moment — how many times to do you get to write that sentence — to make A People’s History of the United States our 7th read-along book. Click the link to purchase it via Amazon, and it’s also available on Half.com. I see a number of different editions here, and the one in my possession just has the all-caps title on the front, no picture of Zinn, but I don’t think it makes a big difference. If anyone’s read or compared the editions and thinks it’s problematic to use any/all, please post in the comments and we’ll figure it out.
It’s a pretty big, wide-ranging book, so I’d like to do things a bit differently this time around — I’ll give everyone some time to put hands to it, and then I’ll open an ongoing discussion thread where we can talk about it as we read. (American history is, I trust, not riddled with spoilers at this point.) Look for that thread on or around January 19.
Tags: books Howard Zinn The TN Read-Along
Woot! Off to the bookstore to buy a bunch of–er, I mean, this important historical document. NOT slipping the Shannon book in the middle of the pile. Certainly not. Heavens, no.
I’ve been meaning to read this book for some time, ever since Zinn’s death reminded me of its importance. I’ll be downloading to Kindle/iPad shortly, and looking forward to the discussion.
Great, I just picked it up today. Have been meaning to read this for ages.
Speaking of America:
Congresswoman Giffords, my prayers are with you.
This is a great book. Already read it a couple of times, but definitely worth pulling back out of the bookcase again.
I haven’t read this for several years but this is the thing that I remember… American history is littered with assholes. Good ol’ Chris Columbus was one of the biggest. I’m looking forward to cracking this one open again.
@Michelle, if you found Columbus’s assholery and assorted miscellanea intriguing, James Reston put out a rather good book about that era of Spain’s history. The prose is a little too flowery at first, then it settles down and reads kind of like a high-brow tabloid. Quite a pageturner. It’s called Dogs of God: Columbus, the Inquisition, and the Defeat of the Moors.
Requested the Zinn from the library — relieved that it squeaked past Doherty, haha. The page count almost put me off participating, but I know I’d be missing out, so I’ll just have to set aside my other book for a bit (an 800-page biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer; apparently I’m attracted to long books lately).
It’s a fast read so far, I’m finding, although the high asshole count is rather depressing. Shut up, Andrew Jackson!
Sarah Vowell really, really, really tears Jackson a new one in several of her works.
I already disliked Jackson thanks to listening to that biography that came out a few years back, “American Lion” or whatever the hell. Atrocious accent work in the Clay-and-Calhoun-heavy sections did not help, but mostly, he seemed like a jerkwater, and the pissing contest over the national bank just went ON AND ON. Also, with every new version of the twenty the Treasury prints, Jackson’s already creepily large forehead grows a size. He’s starting to look like the aliens from Mars Attacks!.
I bought this book over a year ago, and never got the chance to read it. This is the perfect opportunity – looking forward to the open thread!
@Sars – and Lincoln looks like a serial killer! :)
Can’t wait for this open thread.
I have the version from Perennial Classics that has the all-caps title and a red-white-and-blue spine. Zinn’s picture is one the back, and it goes up through the Clinton administration. I don’t know if the version matters, since it’s not a translation, but I loved it. The copy I have was in a typeface that was very easy to read.
Mine has, I believe, a brief chapter at the end on 9/11 and the War On Terruh. I don’t think it makes a huge difference as long as everyone’s getting the same meaty material on the robber barons and Asshat Jackson.
I’d say that’s true. Those parts and the Columbus chapter are the things most worth reading. I read it years ago and I still get mad when people talk about Columbus.
@Amanda – “High-brow tabloid”?!?! I am IN. Thanks for the rec!
@S.D.B. – my memory is fuzzy… Is Asshat Jackson the one that had the big idea of giving smallpox infested blankets to the Native Americans?
Among other things. See also: “No problem, you can totally stay here! Except white claim-jumpers can raid your settlements, rape/kill you, and take your land. And if you survive that, ‘sorry,’ but you have to move to the desert. THEN we’ll leave you alone. Wait: no we won’t. Here’s a mouthful of rotten beans; make it last — not that you’ll need to, since any moment now you’ll probably come down with typhus thanks to the overcrowded camps we’re forcing you to live in until we keel-haul you ‘across’ a river in a busted-down ferry. Sign here, please.”
I confess that I skimmed much of that chapter because I already read Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, and I kind of couldn’t go through it again.
Oh, Sars, thank you so much for giving me a laugh on a snowy yucky morning when I’m really struggling to convince myself to leave the house and and get my ass to work.
Your post of 11:17pm, the “No problem, you can totally stay here! Except…” one made my morning that much brighter. That’s probably the most succinct and honest description of “Asshat Jackson” I’ve ever read!
Heh. “Enjoy”!
Looks like I should open the thread a bit earlier, eh what?
Yeah. I thought that was him. What a peach.