We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Defending Howard Zinn

Click here to access article by Pete Dolack from his blog Systemic Disorder.  

Dolack finds much to criticize in an attack on Howard Zinn's popular history book A People’s History of the United States: 1492-Present. The author of the attack is Professor Wineburg writing for the magazine of the American Federation of Teachers, American Educator

Being published in an education journal is particularly significant. Wineburg's attack is an illustration of what is known as "gatekeeping" with Wineburg functioning as a gatekeeper. This occurs frequently in education circles by One Percent ideologues to insure that everyone is indoctrinated properly in values, information, and understanding of issues vital to our masters in the One Percent.

Zinn's history was written for ordinary people, and its purpose was to survey much of the history that is omitted or distorted in US schools. As an introductory general history text for this purpose, it is excellent. However, one should not stop there as many on the left do, but seek out other more primary sources of history such as listed in my books section.