Table Of ContentHOWARD
ZINN
DAVIS D. JOYCE
HOWARD
ZINN
A RADICAL AMERICAN VISION
NOAM CHOMSKY
FOREWORD BY
Prometheus Books
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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
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in critical articles and reviews.
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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.
