Empire or Humanity?

What the Classroom Didn’t Teach Me about the American Empire by Howard Zinn 

Narrated by Viggo Mortensen - Art by Mike Konopacki - Video editing by Eric Wold

Watch Video (Duration: 8:35)

Since its landmark publication in 1980, A People’s History of the United States has had six new editions, sold more than 1.7 million copies, become required classroom reading throughout the country, and been turned into an acclaimed play. More than a successful book, A People’s History triggered a revolution in the way history is told, displacing the official versions with their emphasis on great men in high places to chronicle events as they were lived, from the bottom up.

Now Howard Zinn, historian Paul Buhle, and cartoonist Mike Konopacki have collaborated to retell, in vibrant comics form, a most immediate and relevant chapter of A People’s History: the centuries-long story of America’s actions in the world. Narrated by Zinn, this version opens with the events of 9/11 and then jumps back to explore the cycles of U.S. expansionism from Wounded Knee to Iraq, stopping along the way at World War I, Central America, Vietnam, and the Iranian revolution. The book also follows the story of Zinn, the son of poor Jewish immigrants, from his childhood in the Brooklyn slums to his role as one of America’s leading historians.

Shifting from world-shattering events to one family’s small revolutions, A People’s History of American Empire presents the classic ground-level history of America in a dazzling new form.

"At the heart of this wide-ranging comics indictment of American Empire are the terrific human stories of those who have resisted — including wonderful autobiographical episodes from author Howard Zinn’s own courageous and inspiring life."-Joe Sacco, author of Safe Area Gorazde ht

See the Boston Globe review:

"No ordinary comic book"
March 27, 2008
http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2008/03/27/no_ordinary_comic_book/

Author Biographies:

Howard Zinn, author of numerous acclaimed histories, taught history at Spelman College and Boston University, and has received the Lannan Literary Award, among many others. A People’s History of the United States was a finalist for the 1980 National Book Award. He lives in Massachusetts.

Mike Konopacki has collaborated on five collections of cartoons, and his work is regularly syndicated. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

Paul Buhle is a senior lecturer in history at Brown University and the editor of the Encyclopedia of the American Left, among other books. He lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

"Empire or Humanity? What the Classroom Didn’t Teach Me About the American Empire"
Tomdispatch.com
April 1, 2008
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174913

"Locura electoral"
La Jornada (Mexico)
March 9, 2008
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2008/03/09/index.php?section=opinion&article=030a1mun

"Election Madness"
The Progressive
March 2008
http://www.progressive.org/mag_zinn0308

After three and a half years touring the country with dramatic readings and special performances from the book Voices of a People’s History of the United States, we’ve launched a new non-profit organization of the same name to carry on the work in a systematic way and to raise funds to bring this inspiring work to every school, town hall, community theater, and public space in the country.

Howard Zinn is on the board of directors of Voices of a People’s History of the United States and there’s a Teachers Advisory Board of public high school and college teachers to help guide the programs. Other advisory board members include civil rights leader Julian Bond and artists such as writers John Berger and Arundhati Roy, film directors Paul Haggis and John Sayles, actors Mark Ruffalo and Marisa Tomei, and South African poet Dennis Brutus.

Any donation to Voices is tax-deductible and will be matched one to one by a generous donor who has given us our first challenge grant.

We are also looking for in-kind donations and pro bono support in launching our web site and creating an infrastructure for the organization. Laptops anyone? Low-rent office space in New York? Top flight graphic design or web hosting? Let us know!

The goal of Voices of a People’s History of the United States is to encourage civic engagement and to further history education by bringing the rich stories of dissent and activism in the United States to life through public readings of primary-source materials — letters, poems, speeches, songs, courtroom arguments.

Voices seeks to make known the great range of voices from U.S. history, including those of women, African Americans, immigrants, and laborers, and in doing so, to educate contemporary audiences about the role of ordinary citizens in shaping our nation’s story. Voices works to remind people of the eloquence of ordinary people, as well as extraordinary and well-known figures from our history.

By involving celebrated actors and public figures in readings, we hope to inspire audiences to delve more deeply into historical texts and also to see history as a lively, relevant, and contemporary subject, not just a matter of books sitting on the library shelf.

But rather than rely on professional actors alone, Voices also arranges for readings combining actors with students and activists to engage at all levels of the dramatic and educational process, from selecting texts, to interpreting them, to adding new voices to the performances.

In doing all of this, Voices hopes to help develop a truly participatory citizenry.

Checks can be made payable to "Voices of a People’s History of the United States" or "VPHUS" and sent to:

Voices of a People’s History of the United States
130 West 25th Street
Room 12A
New York NY 10001-7472

Inquiries about Voices can be faxed to 212-366-6868, mailed to the address above, or e-mailed to .