Acclaimed historian, Howard Zinn, has placed himself at the center of the most important historical moments of the last thirty years, during which he has been admired as a writer and an important political and moral voice.
At the age of 18 he was a shipyard worker; at 21 an Air Force bombardier. Both experiences helped shape a radical impulse, an opposition to war, and a passion for history.
After getting his Ph.D. from Columbia University in history, he taught at Spelman College, where he worked with young Civil Rights activists including Alice Walker and Marian Wright Edelman. Zinn led anti-war protests, went to Vietnam with Daniel Berrigan and testified in his friend, Daniel Ellsberg’s Pentagon Papers trial. His politically engaged life brought him into many arenas: imprisonment for civil disobedience, fights for open debate in universities, and activist work from the Vietnam era to the present.
The stories of the people and events that inspire his faith in the possibility of historic change are woven through his talks as he discusses the need for a critical understanding of our history and the daily events, which shape all of our lives.
Zinn is the author of dozens of books and including the classic,
A People’s History of the United States and
Declarations of Independence. Other books include
You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times,
The Zinn Reader and
Marx in Soho.
His essays have appeared in over 20 books and his plays include
Emma (about the anarchist-feminist Emma Goldman), produced in New York, Boston, London, Edinburgh, Tokyo;
Unsafe Distances, produced in New York, and at Lucille Lortel's White Barn Theatre in Westport, CO and
Marx in Soho, produced in Washington, D.C., Asheville, N.C, San Francisco CA, among other venues.
Zinn’s life is also the subject of an award-winning documentary narrated by actor Matt Damon,
Howard Zinn: You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train. Featuring rare archival materials and interviews with Zinn and colleagues such as Noam Chomsky, You Can’t Be Neutral captures the essence of this extraordinary man who has been a catalyst for progressive change for more than 60 years.
Zinn has lectured extensively across the United States as well as in Asian, Africa and Europe. He was a visiting professor at the University of Paris and the University of Bologna (Fulbright Distinguished Professor).
Zinn is recipient of a Thomas Merton Award, the Eugene V. Debs Award and Lannan Literary Award.
