Passionate Declarations: Essays on War and JusticeFrom the bestselling author of A People's History of the United States comes this selection of passionate, honest, and piercing essays looking at American political ideology. Howard Zinn brings to Passionate Declarations the same astringent style and provocative point of view that led more than a million people to buy his book A People's History of the United States. He directs his critique here to what he calls "American orthodoxies" -- that set of beliefs guardians of our culture consider sacrosanct: justifications for war, cynicism about human nature and violence, pride in our economic system, certainty of our freedom of speech, romanticization of representative government, confidence in our system of justice. Those orthodoxies, he believes, have a chilling effect on our capacity to think independently and to become active citizens in the long struggle for peace and justice. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 9
... Vietnam was a threat to our " national security " led to policies that cost a million lives , including those of 55,000 young Americans . The belief , fostered in the Soviet Union , that " socialism " required a ruthless policy of farm ...
... Vietnam altogether was not offered . Daniel Ellsberg , working for Henry Kissinger in 1969 , was given the job of drawing a list of alternative policies on Vietnam . As one possibil- ity on his long list he suggested total withdrawal ...
... Vietnam War , conducted a brutal campaign that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese noncombatants . Sometimes , the language is more direct , as when President Lyndon Johnson , speaking to the nation during the ...
... Vietnam War , in which the falling dominos of Southeast Asia would have had to swim the Pacific to get to San Francisco . Did the Soviet Union , with interconti- nental ballistic missiles , with submarines off the coast of Long Island ...
... Vietnam and Watergate , a Senate committee in 1974-1975 conducted an investigation of the intelli- gence agencies . It discovered that the CIA and the FBI had violated the law countless times ( opening mail , breaking into homes and ...
Contents
1 | |
32 | |
FOUR The Use and Abuse of History | 48 |
The American Class System | 147 |
Second Thoughts on the First Amendment | 182 |
The Black Experience | 231 |
ELEVEN The Ultimate Power | 278 |
NOTES | 303 |
INDEX | 333 |