Passionate Declarations: Essays on War and Justice [9780060557676]

Overview

“A shotgun blast of revisionism that aims to shatter all the comfortable myths of American political discourse.” — Los Angeles Times

From the bestselling author of A People's History of the United States comes this selection of passionate, honest, and piercing essays looking at American political ideology.

Howard Zinn brings to Passionate Declarations the same astringent style and provocative point of view that led more than a million people to buy his book A People's History of the United States. He directs his critique here to what he calls "American orthodoxies" —that set of beliefs guardians of our culture consider sacrosanct: justifications for war, cynicism about human nature and violence, pride in our economic system, certainty of our freedom of speech, romanticization of representative government, confidence in our system of justice. Those orthodoxies, he believes, have a chilling effect on our capacity to think independently and to become active citizens in the long struggle for peace and justice.

In these landmark essays, Zinn confronts these foundational beliefs head-on:

• Just and Unjust War: A provocative re-examination of warfare itself, questioning whether any war—even the 'good war' against fascism—can truly be called just in the modern era.
• U.S. Foreign Policy: A sharp critique of Machiavellian 'realism' and the deceptions used to justify American military interventions around the globe.
• The American Class System: An unsparing look at economic justice in the United States, exposing the myth of 'rugged individualism' and the long history of government aid for the rich.
• Civil Disobedience: A powerful argument for why true democracy requires citizens to go beyond the law and engage in direct action, from the abolitionists to the anti-war movement.