The 4 Most Overrated Fiction Books: A People's History of the United States

From Return of Kings:

A People’s History Of The United States 

This terrifying dystopian fiction is an alternate history in which Americans are imperialist running dogs, and Socialists (including Communists) are the good guys. This is unsurprising, given Howard Zinn’s radicalinski past. It’s sold over two million copies, many of which were strangely passed off as an actual history textbook to high school and college students. The rampant bias starts right in the beginning. 

It opens centuries before the USA’s independence, describing the governorship of Christopher Columbus. Apparently Zinn took the biased account of Francisco de Bobadilla at face value—whose purpose was to take his job as governor and nullify his 10% of colonial revenue. It could be worse; I’ve had a professor actually tell me that Columbus sent salted Mayan children in barrels back to Spain for dog food. 

The early USA had very little going on other than slavery, mistreating the Indians, and oppressing the poor, according to Zinn’s Communist “dialectical materialism” approach to historiography. He calls America’s peculiar institution “the most cruel form of slavery in history”. 

Although it’s wrong in any form, Zinn apparently was oblivious of Middle Eastern slavery, which continued long after abolition in the USA and the rest of the Western world. The reason why the Middle East doesn’t have a race problem is because African men were routinely castrated. Most slaves in Latin America got worked to death. What was this about unprecedented cruelty again? 

It does talk about history a lot, but doesn’t provide a coherent narrative. For example, the coverage of the Civil War is pretty sketchy. If you want to read about Bull Run, Gettysburg, Shiloh Hill, etc., then you’ll have to consult a real history book. As for how it started: Lincoln initiated hostilities by trying to repossess the federal base at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. 

This is one of many whoppers peppering his tall tale. As any kid who stayed awake during history class should know (unless Zinn’s book was assigned reading), the Confederates initiated hostilities by attacking Union troops in Fort Sumter. A real history book would explain this, as well as describe the nervous tension leading up to that, but Zinn didn’t do very basic research. 

These errors and omissions are quite frequent. For another example, he suggests that the Rosenbergs and other atomic spies were railroaded on flimsy evidence. Actually, their guilt is candidly acknowledged even by Soviet insiders. 

All told, Zinn’s fiction raises some valid criticisms, but is far too biased to take seriously.  

America sucks. Power to The People!

GO READ THE REST.