That's the definition of advocacy history (and journalism too, BTW).
I do understand the value of postmodern thought in puncturing the illusion of rationalistic objectivity - such objectivity not only defies what we know about phenomenology, it goes against what quantum mechanics is discovering - but this goes waaaaaaaaay beyond that.
Meh, I've read other stuff. This is a refreshingly different take, and IMO, quite good.
His socialist trappings are easy to identify, and avoid if you wish. This isn't really one of his "become a socialist" books. Its simply a more realistic view of Americain History: The rich crapping on the poor, over, and over again. He does try to make a point of leading the reader to conclude that a different form of government might have produced a different history, but again, its easy to ignore.
I've always known that capitalism works so well because it is based on the fact that, as humans, we are all out for ourselves, and we'll step on whoever, and betray anyone to get to the top. Zinn makes the point ad naseum in his book, which isn't why I'm reading. I could care less about his political agenda.
It is nice to step outside the normal view of our history, that of heroic founding fathers, and a fair, almost utopian, society, and visit the darker side of our history.
Hmm....read a VERY depressing statistic yesterday...said only 30% of people *ever* read a book cover to cover after they graduate high school. I would like to see the research on that for verification, but it feels like a relatively true statement. Very sad...
Been averaging a couple of books a week lately, mostly reading about how disgusting our food really is, and reading about how to scale up my gardening to provide healthy food for more people...I probably should start a thread on the Politics Forum...but our food supply is downright scary...
Just Food: Where Locavores Get It Wrong - James McWilliams I love to read the opposite viewpoint when I am learning about new ideas, and his "opposite" viewpoint is not all that different, but brought up some very interesting ideas I had not considered.
Histophysiology, medical physiology, immunology, and other assorted text books. I wouldn't be opposed to the authors throwing in a little murder mystery to liven things up.
Been averaging a couple of books a week lately, mostly reading about how disgusting our food really is, and reading about how to scale up my gardening to provide healthy food for more people...I probably should start a thread on the Politics Forum...but our food supply is downright scary...
I have not seen it yet. I still have no problems eating meat, but greatly prefer eating it from other, more humane and more nutritious and safer sources. Better to take this to the political forum, don't want to hijack this thread!!
"Death on a Family Farm" is a very interesting documentary on HBO right now also.
Also read this after seeing the show "100 Mile Diet" on Planet Green. Plenty - Alisa Smith
It is nice to step outside the normal view of our history, that of heroic founding fathers, and a fair, almost utopian, society, and visit the darker side of our history.
You might consider a few other books, then. These take the non-mainstream view on the subjects. Lincoln for one benefits greatly from popular revisionist history (the cult of Lincoln as it's referred).
"Lincoln Unmasked" by Tom DiLorenzo
"A Century of War" by John Denson
"Defending the Undefendable" by Walter Block
"Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War" by Pat Buchanan
"Hamilton's Curse" by Tom DiLorenzo
"Reassessing the Presidency" collection of essays edited by John Denson
Lincoln isn't too nicely portray'd in Zinn's book either.
The next book on my shelf is "The Road to Montecello". A bit of a look at TJ for a while. I'll look into those books you mentioned too, though I may need to read some from the "other side of the fence" for a bit to pick my spirits back up!
Yeah, hurts my wallet too as it's basically going to put me out of business. All of the publishers are scrambling to abandon paper text books for e-books that are being almost exclusively assembled overseas with labor willing to work for 3¢ on the dollar...
I read all the Harry Potter books. Took me two weeks. May be childish but they were really enjoyable. Luckily I didn't have to buy them. A friend of mine has the whole series and insisted I read all the books. I'm glad I have a friend from London becuase some of the text needed translation.