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 12
... later disclaim . As a result of the Watergate scandals in the Nixon admin- istration ( a series of crimes committed by underlings in his behalf ) , a number of his people ( former CIA agents , White House aides , and even the attorney ...
... later several of them were indicted . One of them ( Robert McFarland ) tried to commit suicide . Another , Colonel Oliver North , stood trial for lying to Congress , was found guilty , but was not sentenced to prison . Reagan was not ...
... later admitted , he was intimidated by the presence of " such august figures as the Secretaries of State and Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff . " He wrote , " In the months after the Bay of Pigs I bitterly reproached myself for ...
... later it was done " to end the war in victory with the least possible cost in the lives of the men in the armies . " " " This was based on the assumption that without atomic bombs , an invasion of Japan would be necessary , which would ...
... later . " 45 Why was the United States in a rush to drop the bomb , if the reason of saving lives turns out to be empty , if the probability was that the Japanese would have surrendered even without an invasion ? Historian Gar ...
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 |