Other Voices
The death was announced this week of the reclusive American writer J.D. Salinger, author of one massively influential novel, The Catcher in the Rye. Written in 1951, Salinger’s tale of teenage rebellion and intellectual precocity has to date sold some 65 million copies and remains a much-loved work of American literature. Salinger’s death will be widely reported, yet this week saw the passing of another bestselling US writer, one far less well-known than Salinger, yet someone who gave voice to rebellion and alienation in other ways: Howard Zinn, who died aged 87 in Santa Monica, California.
First published in 1980, Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States tells the story of the U.S. from 1492 to the present from the perspective of American women, factory workers, African Americans, Native Americans, working poor and immigrant labourers. It is a radically revisionist history of the States, yet since its release it has sold over 1 million copies, been translated into Spanish, French, Italian, German, Turkish, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Swedish, Norwegian, Czech, Portuguese, Russian, Greek and Hebrew, and taught in high schools and colleges throughout the country.
In a week when a Public Policy Polling nationwide survey also announced that the partisan right-wing news channel Fox News is the most trusted news network in the U.S., with an approval rating of 50 per cent, Zinn’s death has added resonance. Faced with criticism of the left-wing bias of his People’s History, Zinn was unrepentant. ‘It’s not an unbiased account; so what?’ he said in a recent interview for The New York Times. ‘If you look at history from the perspective of the slaughtered and mutilated, it’s a different story.’
The death was announced this week of the reclusive American writer J.D. Salinger, author of one massively influential novel, The Catcher in the Rye. Written in 1951, Salinger’s tale of teenage rebellion and intellectual precocity has to date sold some 65 million copies and remains a much-loved work of American literature. Salinger’s death will be widely reported, yet this week saw the passing of another bestselling US writer, one far less well-known than Salinger, yet someone who gave voice to rebellion and alienation in other ways: Howard Zinn, who died aged 87 in Santa Monica, California.
First published in 1980, Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States tells the story of the U.S. from 1492 to the present from the perspective of American women, factory workers, African Americans, Native Americans, working poor and immigrant labourers. It is a radically revisionist history of the States, yet since its release it has sold over 1 million copies, been translated into Spanish, French, Italian, German, Turkish, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Swedish, Norwegian, Czech, Portuguese, Russian, Greek and Hebrew, and taught in high schools and colleges throughout the country.
In a week when a Public Policy Polling nationwide survey also announced that the partisan right-wing news channel Fox News is the most trusted news network in the U.S., with an approval rating of 50 per cent, Zinn’s death has added resonance. Faced with criticism of the left-wing bias of his People’s History, Zinn was unrepentant. ‘It’s not an unbiased account; so what?’ he said in a recent interview for The New York Times. ‘If you look at history from the perspective of the slaughtered and mutilated, it’s a different story.’
