A Power Governments Cannot Suppress

Howard Zinn

• Publisher: City Lights Publishers
• Year: 2006
• Print ISBN: 9780872864757
• eBook ISBN: 9780872865235
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Historical Theory & Criticism
• Index: History

A Power Governments Cannot Suppress is a major collection of essays on American history, race, class, justice and ordinary people who stand up to power. Zinn approaches the telling of U.S. history from an active, engaged point of view, drawing upon untold histories to comment on the most controversial issues facing us today: government dishonesty, terrorism, the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan, the loss of our liberties, immigration and the responsibility of the citizen to confront power for the common good. A Power Governments Cannot Suppress is an invaluable post-9/11 era addition to the themes that run through Howard Zinn's bestselling classic, A People's History of the United States.

"Thank you, Howard Zinn. Thank you for telling us what none of our leaders are willing to: The truth. And you tell it with such brilliance, such humanity. It is a personal honor to be able to say I am a better citizen because of you."—Michael Moore, director of Fahrenheit 9/11

"This strong, incisive book by Howard Zinn provides us with a penetrating critique of current U.S. policies and embraces the sweep of history.... A Power Governments Cannot Suppress leaves us with the faith that citizens have what it takes to confront power and to reverse the dangerous and unjust acts of our government."—Jonathan Kozol, author of The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America

"Find here the voice of the well-educated and honorable and capable and humane United States of America, which might have existed if only absolute power had not corrupted its third-rate leaders so absolutely."—Kurt Vonnegut, author of A Man Without a Country

"Howard Zinn is a unique voice of sanity, clarity, and wisdom who reads history not only to understand the present but to shape the future.... Profoundly insightful... A Power Governments Cannot Suppress should be read by every American, over and over again."—Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun Magazine

"Zinn writes with an enthusiasm rarely encountered in the leaden prose of academic history..."— New York Times Book Review

"Zinn collects here almost three dozen brief, passionate essays that follow in the tradition of his landmark work, A People's History of the United States... Readers seeking to break out of their ideological comfort zones will find much to ponder here."— Publishers Weekly

Howard Zinn is an acclaimed historian, playwright, and combat veteran of World War II. He is the author of more than two dozen books, including his masterpiece A People's History of the United States, and The Historic Unfulfilled Promise (City Lights).

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Quotation
• Acknowledgement
• Other Books By Howard Zinn
• Contents
• 1. If History Is to Be Creative
• 2. The Ultimate Betrayal
• 3. Seattle: A Flash of the Possible
• 4. Big Government
• 5. The Forbidden Word: Class
• 6. World War II: The Good War
• 7. Learning from Hiroshima
• 8. Unsung Heroes
• 9. Tennis on the Titanic
• 10. Killing People to “Send a Message”
• 11. The Double Horror of 9/11
• 12. Afghanistan
• 13. Pacifism and War
• 14. The Boston Massacre
• 15. Respecting the Holocaust
• 16. Patriotism
• 17. Henry David Thoreau
• 18. Nationalism
• 19. Land Mines
• 20. The Supreme Court
• 21. Civil Liberties during Wartime
• 22. Soldiers in Revolt
• 23. The Coming End of the Iraq War
• 24. The Enemy Is War
• 25. Governments Lie
• 26. The Long War
• 27. Break-in for Peace
• 28. Philip Berrigan: Holy Outlaw
• 29. Mississippi Freedom Summer
• 30. Eugene V. Debs
• 31. Protest Literature
• 32. Film and History
• 33. Immigration Nation
• 34. Sacco and Vanzetti
• 35. The Optimism of Uncertainty
• Credits and Permissions
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author