A People's History

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In Howard Zinn’s controversial novel, A Peoples History of the United States, Zinn travels beyond the general textbook knowledge of United States history, commenting on the minuscule yet crucial details that are left out when reevaluating the timeline of American history. Specifically, in chapter 10, entitled “The Other Civil War”, Zinn proposes a strong compelling argument, challenging the corrupt social system that was formed during Andrew Jackson’s period of rule – “Jacksonian Democracy”— and how labor movement radicals covered up all holes in the net with a false sense of security. Throughout the chapter, Zinn stresses the struggles between the differing social classes, specifically racism, a hard road bump in societies progression forward. “Racism became an easy substitute for class frustration” (227). At the time, the center of the racial target was African Americans; however, who was paying attention to the Irish? They to were minority and wanted to be equally represented in the wide scale conflict of equality. Eventually, the Irish searched for political candidates to ampl...

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