A Young People's History of the United States

After invading Afghanistan and failing to locate bin Laden, the War on Terror expanded to Iraq in what became a misguided, deadly, destructive, and unpopular war. The Administration declared that the invasion of Iraq was to locate “weapons of mass destruction” there (406). However, no evidence indicated such stores of weapons (the United Nations had investigated the allegation), and no demonstrable link existed between the September 11 attacks and Iraq. Government officials even stated that the invasion would liberate Iraqi people from the oppressive regime of dictator Saddam Hussein, whose past atrocities the US had failed to respond to at the time. Mobilization for war “violated the charter of the United Nations” (407) and did not draw support from allies.

Zinn suggests that the real reason the US invaded Iraq hearkened back to an objective started much earlier: “The United States had been determined to control the oil of the Middle East” (407); Iraq had the world’s second-largest oil reserves.

The massive invasion instantly killed thousands of Iraqis—including civilians—and hundreds of US soldiers. Iraqi insurgents began a counterattack, as Iraqi civilians “grew more and more resentful of the US occupation of their country” (409), which included acts of violence and state-approved torture of prisoners. The US government downplayed the causalities in the war, but it became clear that the invasion “had brought neither democracy, nor freedom, nor security […] The US government had deceived the American people about” (410) deadly weapons, lied about a link to September 11, and endorsed torture. The Patriot Act allowed for the detainment of suspected terrorists at Guantánamo Bay prison, and the US held them there, denying them the international legal rights of prisoners of war.

Anti-war sentiment was strong. People started turning away from military service, and Armed Forces recruiters launched new efforts to enlist people straight out of high school. Bush’s popularity dropped. The vitriolic patriotism from propaganda persisted, however, and xenophobia fueled a new wave of hatred against undocumented (and even documented) immigrants from Mexico.

Then, in August 2005, the massive Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans with floods that left many dead, injured, and homeless. The national government was slow to respond and offered little aid, which shocked the world. Those impacted directly were mostly people of color, and many lived in poverty. The year 2006 was an election year for many Senate and House of Representative seats. The majority in both houses of Congress shifted to Democrats, representing less of a wave of hope in Democrats and more of a total lack of confidence in Republicans. Zinn calls this shift “a rare democratic moment in the recent history of the nation” (420) for the way it undermined the party in power.

The last chapter is a short, first-person note from Howard Zinn about the big takeaways from his book. He reiterates that he authored the book to counter standard, uncritical accounts of history that he encountered as a teacher and as a person living in the US. Zinn notes that any interpretation of history reveals an author’s judgments about which facts are the most important to include and which can be left out. This book centers on what is often left out (421).

In addition, the author reiterates some of what he considers the most important themes of US history. He writes, “Right down to this day, government has been used to serve the needs of the wealthy and powerful. This fact is hidden by language that suggests that all of us—rich and poor and middle class—want the same thing” (422). Exposing the history of the power imbalance and supporting it with examples is a major focus of the book. He describes A Young People’s History as “a history that is disrespectful of governments and respectful of people’s movements of resistance” (423) because the opposite (Establishment) viewpoint is the one more often published and espoused.

Among the other topics Zinn says he hopes to help effectively expose is history about people of color and the racism they have faced in this country, “the suffering of the poor,” the civilian casualties of war, and “the claims of gay and lesbian people for their rights” (422-23). These subjects received varying amounts of analysis in the book but all represent a more diverse set of stories and movements than the standard narratives—and emphasize that “the memory of people’s resistance suggests new kinds of power” (424). The undercurrent of resistance—of “civil disobedience against the military machine, protests against racism, multiculturalism, and growing anger against endless wars” (425)—represents a constant force that resides with the people, not the small ruling class, and that might influence the future in profound ways.

The chapter’s title, “Rise Like Lions,” refers to a line from a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley about strength in numbers during an uprising. The poem reads, “Rise like lions after slumber / In unvanquishable number!” (426). The masses have not historically had the power, but they greatly outnumber those that do—and have long proven that they can organize to bring about change.