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| A People's History of American Empire | 
 enlarge | Authors: Howard Zinn, Mike Konopacki, Paul Buhle
Publisher: Metropolitan Books
Category: Book
List Price: $17.00
Buy New: $9.17
You Save: $7.83 (46%)
New (56) Used (16) from $7.55
Avg. Customer Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 2478
Media: Paperback
Edition: S&s Hdcvr
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.7
ISBN: 0805087443
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.56973
EAN: 9780805087444
ASIN: 0805087443
Publication Date: April 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: SATISFACTION GUARANTEED! NEW Book! May have remainder mark. Most orders ship within 1 BUSINESS DAY with ORDER CONFIRMATION.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Propagating propaganda May 21, 2008
17 out of 99 found this review helpful
Ugh. It's come to this. No longer able to brainwash college students Zinn has created a book to further his left-wing agenda on the pre-literate and the illiterate. I am so glad that he found the time to devote a few pages of his comic book to promoting Howard Zinn, Civil Rights Activist and Left Wing Hero. In fact. MOST of the book seems to be dedicated to Howard Zinn's story. The remainder seems to be a collection of deceptive, American-hating and conspiracy-minded rubbish.
The most criminal act this book commits is to boil down complex issues into one-pagers... for instance, the decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan was done to "beat Russia to the occupation of Japan" in the opinion of Zinn. Well, the Allies were already planning a large-scale invasion of Japan called Olympic which would have caused untold numbers of casualties, including perhaps as many as one million civilian deaths. The bombs ended the war quickly and completely as no other weapon could have.
I find it interesting that Zinn never mentions Clinton in his criticisms (the closest he gets is a rather unflattering quote from Madeline Albright). I guess during his term there was no "American Empire," just like there were no homeless, despite the Clinton wars in Somalia, Bosnia and Kosovo, not to mention Operation Desert Fox in 1998 (which I took part in). No, no... Clinton is not mentioned, only caricatured with Republican presidents and the Peanut Farmer.
Judging from the sheer number of "not helpfuls" I've gotten on this review it seems obvious that modern computer technology makes it possible for even the most witless and illiterate leftist to express herself/himself,itself. Even if it's just in numbers.
This book is only good as an example of the neo-Marxist school of historical thought. Or as required "reading" for a super-easy 100-level history course. This would be the same course you get extra credit for protesting something right-wing.
Another Biased Book from Professor Zinn April 27, 2008
16 out of 82 found this review helpful
Educators like Howard Zinn are important because they present the view of history from the left of center or left wing point of view. What he tells is part of the story of America but it is not THE story of America. Mr. Zinn finds sinister motives in everything our country has done or is doing.
 History the way it should be told for those who don't have time to read a dense history book! April 16, 2008
10 out of 14 found this review helpful
This book absolutely blew me away. I'm a big Howeard Zinn fan and remember using his book "A People's History of the United States" in high school for research projects.
This book takes Howard Zinn's arguments and presents them in a graphic adaptation that makes history come alive. There's real emotion in this book and it's a true page turner. During much of our own history we have been imperialistic and have taken advantage of the rest of the world to advance our own agendas, without regards to the suffering these actions have caused in many countries around the world. Let's turn back to compassion, collaboration and start promoting real sustainable development. In an election year this book should be convincing enough!
How long has this been going on? June 19, 2008
9 out of 13 found this review helpful
It takes a while to get through the book, because you can't take too much at one sitting. Make sure you've got your meds. We killed the Indians, but you know that, and dominated the Chinese of the canneries and the railroads, and enslaved the blacks, and shot the people who joined unions, locked up the Japanese ... hey but that's only in this country. You should see what we've been doing on in the rest of the world.
 Interesting, comical and biased May 1, 2008
8 out of 32 found this review helpful
This cartoon book is modeled on other cartoon books that have taken serious subjects and boiled them down to childish antics, such as Maus (The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale), Persepolis (Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood) and Palestine (Palestine: The Special Edition). Perhaps this reflects the readership of Mr. Zinn. But one wonders: can't those who hate America and complain about the American 'empire' read adult books that can be taken seriously and fully address the subject? There is a large genre now on the 'American empire' and this book is not original. But it has several original ways to portray the march of this 'empire'. It blames 'war profiteers' and 'corporations' for all of the imperialism. It cannot ever bring itself to show one good positive contribution of America. Thus the Civil War simply isn't included lest Zinn would have to admit that, well, yes, half a million American died freeing the slaves. He would have to admit that America was the only country in the world in which people went to war to end slavery. For the segment on World War Two there is no mention of American troops liberating the concentration camps. There is no mention of how America helped save the world from the Nazi menace and free Asia from Japanese imperialism. Instead there is only the 'war profiteers' and German victims in Dresden. This is typical rubbish and anti-American hatred that cannot give credit where credit is due. Rather than blaming the League of Nations and Italy for the destruction of Ethiopia and Italy's war against that African country this comic book blames America, a country that was in the midst of a depression and isolationist at the time. The book even has the gall to blame America for the Spanish Civil War and Franco's victory, perhaps forgetting that thousands of Americans went and volunteered and died fighting for the Republic in Spain and perhaps also forgetting that in the end the Republic was destroyed by Stalin's use of terror against its leadership. This is a conspiratorial book that offers up tripe in the form of comics in order to make people hateful towards the U.S. Zinn's sympathy must be with those people who have attacked America such as Hitler, Japanese imperialism and Islamism. How sad.
Seth J. Frantzman
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