Posted on 12/13/2009 8:57:47 PM PST by JSDude1
Edited on 12/13/2009 9:10:21 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
Part I
In 1997, Matt Damon played the part of a janitor who turned out to be not only a math wizard, but one of the most brilliant men you could find anywhere. Trying to impress an arrogant Harvard student, who thought he knew everything, Damon’s character quotes from Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States. He tells the Harvard kid and a psychiatrist at the hospital he works at that “you’re surrounding yourself with all the wrong f****n’ books. You wanna read a real history book, read Howard Zinn’s People’s History of the United States. That book’ll [explitive deleted] you on your [explative].”
A few years later, HBO’s “The Sopranos” had a Columbus Day episode. Tony’s kid informs him that they don’t celebrate it at school, because Columbus was a practitioner of genocide against the Indian natives in the new land. When Tony asks him where he got that from, he tells him it was from their school textbook , Zinn’s People’s History.
Zinn’s book has now gone through many editions, and became the single best selling text of history that has ever been published- selling over two million copies—some 128,000 each year since his first edition was published over twenty years ago! Schools around the nation actually use it as a textbook. As Dan Flynn notes, the course statement for a history class at Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA states that “This is an advanced class and all students should have read Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States before the first day of class, to give us a common background to begin the class.”
So if you want to know why the current generation hews to a left-wing world view, look no further than the influence of Zinn.
Adminstrator: I forgot to edit the first explative in the paragraph (I am sorry), please feel free to take it our.
JSDude1.
I’ve read it. The message I got from it was that I should be ashamed of myself for being a white-trash imperialist.
There certainly seem to be a lot of descendants of eastern European immigrants among prominent anti-American writers. I wonder what the story is with that. Anyone have any ideas?
“We need a Conservative Documentarian to counter this propogandist (selective) version of American History.”
Paging LS. Liberal rewrite of history cleanup needed on Aisle 3.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1595230017/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=
Interesting. I guess that could explain things like the SPLC, ACLU, ADL, etc too.
Or if a ten or twenty lefty academics found a reason to retire early and go into hiding.
We’ve got one. His name is Larry Scweikart.
We’ve got one. His name is Larry Schweikart.
Paul Johnson is VERY conservative. He’s the one who wrote the “Intellectuals” featuring several profiles (unflattering) of leftist intellectuals from Rousseau to Marx to Hemingway.
Read Paul Johnson’s “A History of the American People.”
I can’t say much except to tell you that I’ve been in discussions with some important people who are indeed looking at countering this.
Patriot's History of the United States is a much better book overall.
The American Patriot's Handbook: The Writings, History, and Spirit of a Free Nation by George Grant
(here's what the catalog had to say): From the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, it was common for schoolchildren in the United States to be presented with a primer containing important articles that were key to understanding the moral and social values on which the country was founded. Drawing upon this tradition, George Grant has created an updated anthology for the contemporary citizen. Bookended by an excerpt from Christopher Columbus’s Book of Prophesies and George W. Bush’s speech on the one-year anniversary of 9/11, the more than fifty pieces featured in this compilation trace the evolution of the American creed from Colonial times to the modern era. Grant’s selections, which span both sides of the political spectrum, range from legal articles and historical documents to literary works and song lyrics. History buffs, political junkies, and all patriotic souls will be inspired by this compelling and meaningful collection.
When you get a letter from your college asking for donations, refuse. The Education Establishment hates conservatives - and we NEED TO QUIT supporting them.
Not eastern european immigrants per se, but rather eastern european immigrants of Jewish extraction. It remains a mystery to me why so many Jews tend toward socialistic ideals. Even more puzzling to me is their attitude towards defense of Israel. I have a very good Jewish friend/colleague whose grandparents were communists and he is decidedly leftwing himself. David Horowitz=another example, but he saw the light.
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