Howard Zinn is a historian, playwright, and social activist. He was a shipyard worker and Air Force bombardier
before he went to college under the GI Bill and received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He has taught at Spelman
College and Boston University, and has been a visiting professor at the University of Paris and the University
of Bologna. He has received the Thomas Merton Award, the Eugene V. Debs Award, the Upton Sinclair Award, and the
Lannan Literary Award. He lives in Auburndale, Massachusetts.
Summary
From the bestselling author of A People's History of the United States comes this selection of passionate, honest,
and piercing essays looking at American political ideology.
Howard Zinn brings to Passionate Declarations the same astringent style and provocative point of view that led
more than a million people to buy his book A People's History of the United States. He directs his critique here
to what he calls "American orthodoxies" -- that set of beliefs guardians of our culture consider sacrosanct:
justifications for war, cynicism about human nature and violence, pride in our economic system, certainty of our
freedom of speech, romanticization of representative government, confidence in our system of justice. Those orthodoxies,
he believes, have a chilling effect on our capacity to think independently and to become active citizens in the
long struggle for peace and justice.
