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 6
... seems to me their ideas are still alive in our time and can be used to illuminate a problem . Readers wanting to know more about some of these writers and the literature will find references in the endnotes of this book . I will assume ...
... seems to me , a violation of the spirit of democracy . Democracy rests on the idea that , except for technical details for which experts may be useful , the important decisions of society are within the capability of ordinary citizens ...
... seems to me both impossible and undesirable to be neutral in those conflicts . Writing this book , I do not claim to be neutral , nor do I want to be . There are things I value , and things I don't . I am not going to present ideas ...
... seems that journalists too , can be Machiavellian . Serving National Power Machiavelli never questioned that national power and the position of the prince were proper ends : " And it must be understood that a prince ... cannot observe ...
... seems so clean and clear that any means to defeat that enemy may seem justified . Such a state was the United States and such an enemy was fascism , represented by Germany , Italy , and Japan . Therefore , when the atomic bomb appeared ...
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 |