"A People's History of the United States" Ch. 23 Reflection

270 Words2 Pages
A People’s History of the United States: Reflection Chapter 23 The Coming Revolt of the Guards This chapter starts with Zinn’s explanation of the title of the book and his reasons for writing from the people’s perspective. His vision is summed up very well here: “All those histories of this country centered on the Founding Fathers and the Presidents weigh oppressively on the capacity of the ordinary citizen to act,” (Zinn 631). He goes on to explain the role of saviors and heroes in our history, and relates to his own history as well. “Against the reality of that desperate, bitter battle for resources made scare by elite control, I am taking the liberty of uniting those 99 percent as ‘the people’,” (Zinn 632). He describes his writing of history as one that attempts to represent their ‘submerged, deflected, common’ interest. As he says, “History which keeps alive the memory of people’s resistance suggests new definitions of power,” (Zinn 635). I was a bit confused in reading this chapter. It would seem that Zinn felt the need to define his mission as a historian before the final chapters wrapped the book up. Nonetheless, I think he accomplished his goal of liberating the “people’s opinion” through this book. This changed my thinking in that: well, it didn’t. I can still see the victories of the little people over the big powers and it’s painfully clear that minorities, women, and the poor were put down but managed to survive nonetheless. The chapter continues to describe the alienation of the people from the upper individuals just as the chapters before it
Open Document