Why am I passionate about this?
Two weeks before qualifying for his 30-year pension benefits, my father lost his job. This corporate reduction in labor force introduced a debilitating shame to the displaced breadwinner and a new level of precarity to a family with 3 of 4 kids in college. It also shattered the myth that capitalism rewarded individual initiative and hard work. Understanding inequities and the manifold structural forces that can determine an individual’s life prospects became a focal point of my graduate studies and my four decades of university teaching. Using race, gender, and sexuality as analytical tools, my research enriched traditional approaches to political economy.
Mary's book list on capitalism’s iniquities
Why did Mary love this book?
The United States typically describes itself as the world’s most advanced capitalist economy and as a nation characterized by equal opportunity, fair play, and the rule of law that acknowledges no privilege or advantage related to race, gender, class, ethnicity, or sexuality.
Zinn’s meticulous research offers a radically different view of the nation from founding through the “War on Terror.” He demonstrates how white supremacy was built into state and federal constitutions and how the law was used to benefit the wealthy and marginalize and oppress the majority of the population.
Placing the excluded at the center of his analysis, he traces the sustained struggle for universal suffrage, minimum wage and maximum hour legislation, health and safety standards in the workplace, racial equality, and women’s rights and shows how easily these gains can be eroded.
6 authors picked A People's History of the United States as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
THE CLASSIC NATIONAL BESTSELLER
"A wonderful, splendid book—a book that should be read by every American, student or otherwise, who wants to understand his country, its true history, and its hope for the future." –Howard Fast
Historian Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States chronicles American history from the bottom up, throwing out the official narrative taught in schools—with its emphasis on great men in high places—to focus on the street, the home, and the workplace.
Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, itis the only volume to tell America's story from the…