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 8
... interests as ordinary citizens , want the same things , hold the same values , and , therefore , can be trusted to make decisions for all of us . To depend on great thinkers , authorities , and experts is , it seems to me , a violation ...
... interests - war against peace , nationalism against internationalism , equality against greed , and democracy against elit- ism — and it seems to me both impossible and undesirable to be neutral in those conflicts . Writing this book ...
... Interests : The Prince and the Citizen bout 500 years ago modern political thinking began . Its enticing surface was the idea of “ realism . ” Its ruthless center was the idea that with a worthwhile end one could justify any means . Its ...
... interests , and so we can trust the one who describes the world for us , because that person has our interests at heart . It is very important to know if our interests are the same , because a description is never simply neutral and ...
... interest , " " national security , " and " national defense . " These phrases put everyone in the country under one enormous blanket , camouflaging the differences between the inter- est of those who run the government and the interest ...
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 |