Howard Zinn: A Radical American Vision PDF
Preview Howard Zinn: A Radical American Vision
HOWARD ZINN DAVIS D. JOYCE HOWARD ZINN A RADICAL AMERICAN VISION NOAM CHOMSKY FOREWORD BY Prometheus Books 59 John Glenn Drive Amherst, New York 14228-2197 Published 2003 by Prometheus Books Howard Zinn: A Radical American Vision. Copyright © 2003 by Davis D. Joyce. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or conveyed via the Internet or a Web site without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Inquiries should be addressed to Prometheus Books 59 John Glenn Drive Amherst, New York 14228–2197 VOICE: 716–691–0133, ext. 207 FAX:716–564–2711 WWW.PROMETHEUSBOOKS.COM 07 06 05 04 03 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Joyce, Davis D., – Howard Zinn : a radical American vision / Davis D. Joyce. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 1–59102–131–6 (alk. paper) 1. Zinn, Howard, 1922– 2. Historians—United States—Biography. 3. Zinn, Howard, 1922–—Political and social views. 4. United States—Historiography. 5. United States—Politics and government—Historiography. 5. United States— Politics and government—Historiography. 6. United States—History—Book reviews. I. Title. E175.5.Z56J69 2003 973'.072'02—dc22 2003016864 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper In memory of JOHN S. EZELL, mentor CONTENTS Foreword Noam Chomsky 9 Preface 15 Acknowledgments 21 The Life and Writings of Howard Zinn: ABrief Chronology 23 One. Growing Up Class-Conscious, 1922–1956 27 Two. The South and the Movement, 1956–1964 47 Three. You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train, 1964–1973 81 Four. You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train, 1973–1988 135 Five. Failure to Quit, 1988–Present 185 Six. Howard Zinn’s Radical American Vision: APreliminary Assessment 231 Index 257 7 FOREWORD NOAM CHOMSKY T he country has changed a great deal since Howard Zinn boarded his “moving train” a half century ago. It has changed along very different trajectories. Some have been rich in achievement, often exhilarating, and full of promise for a better future. Others, in part in reaction to them, are ugly and ominous in their import. Which will prevail? It’s hard to overesti- mate the significance of the question. It’s hard to think of a better way to gain a clear understanding of what is at stake, and what can be done about it, than by reading, and pondering, the fascinating story of Howard Zinn’s crucial and intimate participation at every point, in thought and action. One trajectory is illuminated by warnings from prominent figures, in the leading establishment journal Foreign Affairs, that for much of the world—probably most of it—the United States is “becoming the rogue superpower,” which they consider to be “the single greatest external threat to their societies” (Samuel Huntington, March/April 1999); “in the eyes of much of the world, in fact, the prime rogue state today is the United States” (Robert Jervis, then chair of the American Political Science Association, July/August 2001). That was well before the Bush administration 9 10 FOREWORD announced a doctrine that sent many shudders around the world, including substantial sectors of the foreign policy elite at home: that the United States intends to rule the world by military force, the dimension in which it reigns supreme, and to rely on aggressive war (mislabeled “preemption”) to bar any potential challenge to its domination. Many analysts warned at once that the “new imperial grand strategy” announced in September 2002 threatens to “leave the world more dangerous and divided—and the United States less secure” (John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs, September/October 2002). One indication, revealed by public opinion research a few months later, was a sharp increase in fear of the United States around much of the world, and dislike or even loathing of its political leadership. Another was a reported increase in recruitment for al Qaeda–style terrorist organizations as a result of the Iraq invasion, and apparent acceleration of moves toward proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. These were widely predicted reactions to the aggressive unilateralism that was brazenly declared and violently implemented; the motivation might be revenge, or, more broadly, deterrence by the only means available to those who are targeted. Closely integrated with Bush administration global planning is the dedicated effort at home to accelerate the Reaganite program of dismantling the progressive legislation of the twentieth century, which grew out of the popular struggles of the conflicting trajectory. Changes resulting from the activism of the past half century are indeed dramatic. The country has become far more civilized as a result. The driving force in the early years was the civil rights movement, spearheaded by the young people for whom Zinn was a mentor, and a participant in their coura- geous initiatives—the “new abolitionists” of SNCC, whose triumphs and travails he recorded memorably, in part from firsthand experience. Atlanta, where he began to teach in an African American women’s college in 1956, underwent a remarkable transformation, as did the South in general, with effects throughout the country. Just to give one personal illustration, at about the time Zinn began his teaching career at Spelman College in Atlanta, I joined the faculty at MIT in Cambridge. Walking through the halls at the time, one saw neatly dressed white males. In the same halls today half the students are women, the undergraduate student body is fairly diverse, and formalities have been replaced by much easier interactions throughout the institution. As I write, the first woman and the first African American have been appointed to head departments of science and engineering. The expe- rience is replicated throughout much of the country. There is a long way to go, but the accomplishments are real, and instructive.
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