The right’s recent obsession with Howard Zinn is probably counterproductive. The more attention they give him, the more people will be curious about the controversy and pick up one of his books. The more they try to keep Zinn’s books out of classrooms, the more students will be inspired to defy the censorship. And as more people read Zinn’s books, more people will be informed by his worldview, which is certainly not a good thing for the right.
In a way, I can understand the consternation. Zinn paints a relentlessly negative picture of Western Civilization and America. Is that what we want to teach our kids? The thing is, it’s not like the only history kids get is produced by Howard Zinn. Ninety-nine percent of the history they get, whether in school or on television or through cultural osmosis, is relentlessly positive. Sure, Jim Crow and slavery were bad, but we overcame that. What happened to the indigenous population is a shame, but that’s what happens when two cultures at much different levels of technological development clash over the same land. Sure, we’re the only country to drop radioactive bombs on women and children, but it saved American lives and shortened the war.
But, you know, there are other points of view. And we need to understand the critique of our history and our system to have a fully-rounded education. This critique of Howard Zinn in the Wall Street Journal is rich with irony, not least of which is the title of the author’s book: Humility: An Unlikely Biography of America’s Greatest Virtue.
Reading Howard Zinn’s version of history will do more to instill humility than pretty much anything I can think of. More than that, it will teach you just how little humility Americans tend to have. You could call our national creed “overconfidence.” It has helped us do great, almost unimaginable things in the past, but it has also led to some seriously humbling disasters.
On the whole, I have a positive view of America that has been enriched by having to come to terms with Zinn’s critique. I absorbed what he had to say, agreed with much of it, and still came away thinking this country is a net-positive force in the world. I’m just more humble about it than I was before.
