This collection of essays, though dated by specific focus, is far and away the most timely warning to America. Hyper-nationalism, racism, conquest, and the modes of governmental control of it's citizenry all come under fire in this book, whose authors could motivate even the most stagnant stalwart. It says triumphantly, that radicals and reformers are not dead, and will not disappear until each and every member of human society is both. Howard Zinn, both contributor and introductory speaker, is a beacon towards reconstructive, revisionary history, and this century's spokesperson for the pursuit of history as a candle in the dark. Noam Chomsky, Mike Davis, Marlene Fried and others paint a portrait of modern society, clear about it's offenses to human dignity and it's abounding folly, and offer both a critique of those people and trends responsible, and a path towards salvation. I recomend this book to anyone who believes in the courage of individual spirit over those who would silence it. Radicalism is given back its good and powerful name in Open Fire.

"Sometimes to be silent is to lie." -Miguel de Unamuno.

The book begins on 8/6/45, when in a burst of righteous brutality, America introduced the nuclear age at Hiroshima. ...this quietly, passionate, opinionated work go[es] on to examine... the decison to drop the bomb, the Truman Doctrine in Greece, America's worldwide imperialism, corporate power and the profit motive, the conflicts of race (particularly the rebellion of black Americans), justice and injustice and finally the ...seeds of change.

Howard Zinn's life is a product of the America he describes on these pages. In the last weeks of WWII... he participated in the bombing of a German encampment located near a bucolic French village. The payload was napalm, then a new weapon in the American arsenal, and the strike not only wiped out the intended target, but the French village as well. The memory of that wanton destruction never left him.

Empathy on 1960s It is well descibed book on 1960's. The professor at Lehigh University who was actually the core of the movement describes his generation from his own view, from micro level to macro level, from small demonstrations to nation-wide movement. This book is one of the most important books about sixties to understand the deepest thoughts, desires, and needs of people who participated civil rights movemen, anti-war movement, and other movements. I also found the ideological conflict between those young people and policy makers of sixties, which you will never see on any TV program, movies, newspaper articles, and other mainstream media. I now understand the cause of the movement, cause of disastar, cause of counter culture, and polarization that still exist in this country. I can say without exaggeration that without reading this book, you will not understand the importance and impact that the generation of 60s brought to today's society.

The Officers and Members Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) were the foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement. They went into the dangerous areas of the South and attempted to register voters and challenge local segregation ordinances. Howard Zinn documents this in this social history of SNCC. He also gives information on Fannie Lou Hamer, John Lewis and other prominent SNCC leaders.

I started reading this book with the fear that Friedenberg would start bashing particular Presidents based on their political affiliation, but I was glad to discover that he provides a critique of each leader without much bias to his own beliefs. While the tone of his narrative tends to side with the liberals, he nevertheless thoroughly scrutinizes each administration regardless of whether the leader was a republican or democrat. No president here was exempted from his criticisms. All were judged. His narratives contain numerous humorous anecdotes regarding the various presidents' personal and political follies. The information is also recent, ending with a look at the Clinton Administration and expressing some concluding remarks about what the Bush Administration might bring in the future. He focuses not only on each president's personal weaknesses, but he also connects these personal inadequacies to the president's national policies and the consequences of their failures.

His narrative is an easy read, and it is well-suited for the general public. It is not a concise academic analysis of political science and leadership. Rather, with its humor, wit, and sarcasm - this book serves more as a "wake-up call" by revealing to the public a side of the White House that is in many ways human and vulnerable to the machinations of human weaknesses and dark vices - such as immorality, corruption,greed, sexual scandals, racism, and ignorance. I mainly saw this book as a general read concerning politics, but because of the wonderful humor that it espoused, I simply could not put it down! Friedenberg's writing is crisp, vivid, smart, and funny. It was definitely a good read!

This book was definately emotional and insightful. It's not one of a kind, but it comes with my reccomendation. It's full of great primary sources to get you inside the minds of the past.

'At (Mary Susannah Robbins') 25th class reunion at Harvard she attended a symposium, "Vietnam: The Choices We Made." After the event, she recalls, "In Harvard Square it seemed that the sidewalk was glass, that below lay the rubble of the Vietnam War on which American society was built, and that no one was looking down... So I would look down, I would not deny it any longer: I would look at the war and the antiwar movement, so inextricable."
Robbins assembled essays from 24 writers -- 19 men, five women... The authors include some of the best known opponents of the war -- Eugene McCarthy, Joan Baez, Daniel Berrigan, Howard Zinn, Martin Luther King Jr.-- and some of the less known....'
Colman McCarthy, The Washington Post

There is no other book quite like this one and its importance has only grown over the years. We need to listen to these voices for they mirror a huge number of American lives. One is grateful to have this sorrowful and wonderful record.
Gloria Emerson

Howard Zinn will never be a mainstream policy wonk. He is a maverick and proud of it. In a nutshell, Zinn wants a government that represents the interests of the majority...not a select few. Moreover, he dares the reader to challenge conventional wisdom and examine events through his special prism. "The struggle for justice should never be abandoned on the ground that it is hopeless," the author nobly argues. It is a major theme in chapters one through eleven of his book. Overall the author points a lot of fingers at our leaders for promoting aggression in foreign policy. In my opinion, Zinn's "cross-examination" of American idelology is a good book to read during our 4th of July holiday.

Declarations of Independence is one of those few books with the power to change your life and blow your mind if you read it at the right time. There is no better introduction to modern progressive philosophy. When I stumbled on the book (soon after it first came out in 1990, in the midst of the Gulf War), I was in high school and trying to figure out some way of understanding the world beyond myself, and this was the book that helped me begin exploring. I found the insights so fresh, exciting, and provocative that I devoured the book in a few days, then returned to read it again and more carefully. I have returned to it many times since, and with every reading I am amazed at the clarity of Zinn's writing and the common sense and great decency which fills his thinking.

Declarations of Independence seeks to uncover the motives and hypocrisies in many of the ideas Americans take for granted. As a historian and the reknowned author of A People's History of the United States, Zinn is in a position to offer an incisive perspective on our present from someone who understands so much of our past. In one elegant chapter after another, Zinn meditates on American foreign policy, violence and human nature, law and justice, the American class system, just and unjust war, Communism and anti-Communism, and, of course, the use and abuse of history. In many ways, this is a broader and even more accessible book than A People's History of the United States, and just as necessary for anyone concerned with thinking their own thoughts and living a humane life.

Declarations of Independence is an excellent book bringing out the reality of the United States political and economic system. This book brought the past alive, and changed my view of the United States' position in foreign affairs, as well as my view for the authority of the government within the US. The book was also very interesting to read, and it was a rarity when it dragged too much. The author's views on racial and sexual inequality, and how they were expressed and presented to the reader are impressive. The main idea of the book was to expose American ideology for what it is worth, and what it could be with changes within our society and with politics. This is an excellent book for every American who is trying to discover how they feel about issues in the country, especially around election time. It shows the reader the other points of view that are less displayed in the media, or as the author says in his opening chapter, choice's e, f, and g. This is the kind of thinking we need in society, and this book will help to get the idea's spread to the people of the United States. I have nothing but good things to say for this work of art that Howard Zinn has presented for us

I really enjoyed this book. What does come through over and over is Zinn's sense of hope for the future - a sense of hope based on the changes that people can make individually when they speak up and act. Part of what I enjoyed was that the history is connected in a personal way to Zinn and his life, which provided an added richness. This is an interesting story of a fascinating man, but it is also a compassionate and personal view into history and some tumultuous times in the last 30 or 40 years.

It's hard to read this and not ask yourself questions about what you would have done in the same situation, and it seems to me that it's also difficult to avoid questioning what you can do now. Not that you need to agree with everything Zinn says, by any means. It's a push towards living by your own values, and standing up for what you see as right, even in very small ways.

This is not a hard-boiled-hit-you-on-the-head kind of memoir. Zinn has a sense of humor about himself, and doesn't lose a sense of reality. At one point he refuses to pay a fine and spends time in jail. After a night with the cockroaches he changes his mind and pays the fine. He doesn't come off as the perfect saint, only someone consistently willing to say something and someone who consistently tries to do the right thing. I admire him for that. And because of his humanity I can identify with him - and share his hope.

Yes, Zinn has done it again! This memoir is Zinn's best and most empowering of all his wonderful books.

I have read and re-read this book, especially at moments when I feel discouraged by the growing and seemingly overwhelmingly oppression and military violence in this world (and, more specifically, the oppression conducted by or supported by the United States). Reading this book - I feel empowered, and my hope is strengthened.

Here's an example of the strength of this book -- the memoirs of a historian and activist:

".. not to believe in the possibility of dramatic change is to forget that things have changed, not enough, of course, but enough to show what is possible. We have been surprised before in history. We can be surprised again. Indeed, we can do the surprising."

I am eagerly awaiting a longer memoir by Zinn.

Let's face it. Most autobiographies are ego-massaging personal recollections that shed little light on what makes the author tick. But this book represents what an autobiography should be, because it covers Zinn's political history and how his political and historical views have shaped his life. So in reading this book, we not only know something about Zinn, we learn a great deal about the history of the United States over the past 50 years. To the extent Zinn discusses his personal history, it is usually in the context of his political education, for example, working at Brooklyn shipyards as a youth or flying airplanes in World War II or teaching college in the South during the early 1960's. These personal events shape Zinn's views on labor, war and civil rights. Like Forrest Gump, Zinn was there during the 20th Century's most important events. He has lived an extraordinary life and his views on history deserve the greatest respect. Read this book to see what a real autobiography should look like.

This book is a catalog of every negative event relating to American history, described from a neo-Marxist perspective. Zinn argues that it is necessary to focus solely upon the negative to balance the "patriotic" history taught in schools; however, as a recent product of the public school system, I was made well aware of the horrors of slavery, the Native American genocide, and other atrocities (alongside positive developments). I have concerns about the judgment of an individual who writes, in 1997: "In an economic system not rationally planned for human need, but developing fitfully, chaotically out of the profit motive, there seemed to be no way to avoid recurrent booms and slumps." By repeating the longstanding Marxist mantra regarding crises, he makes it apparent that he has no understanding of the events of the last decade. Zinn's style is breezy and accessible--he is an excellent advocate, but one whose complete lack of balance is unsettli! ! ng.

Unlike the reader from Cal Berkeley, I am willing to give my name, Dan Krejci, my location, Boise, Idaho, and that as a graduate student in history I have found Howard Zinn's fabulous textbook a great asset to both my research and my pedagogy. This is the textbook that Todd Gitlin, Gary Nash, and myself have been looking for as a guiding light to a history curriculum that will embrace American multiculturalism and demystify the antiquated Bancroftian historiography that perpetuates old myths rather than deal with new realities. Zinn's history is a small step for humankind and a giant step away from Rankean orthodoxy. Zinn's book is a cry for a rejuvenation of our discipline where interdisciplinary studies are paralleling the pluralism that makes up American values and style and need to be addressed in both the classroom and the boardroom.

Zinn's book is an essential antidote to the standard histories that glorify the elites and ignore the working people and all of the other folks who have been trampled on during our history. I highly recommend the abridged edition for use in classes -- it contains the same analysis with fewer supporting examples, and is thus easier for students to get through.

Raphael's goal is an admirable one, and his topic is of great importance to any study of the American Revolution. Indeed, the "common people" (including women, slaves, and Indians) are too often overlooked in histories of the period, and their roles were critical. For example, the HUGE influence slaves had on how the war was fought in the South is sadly ignored, despite the fact that no understanding of that aspect is complete without it. That said, the book is not the whole story and is best read in combination with a work focusing on the "great men" and events "at the top"--perhaps Gordon Wood or Bernard Bailyn. Such a combination, I think, would provide a fuller portrayal. My major complaint with the book is its inclusion of page upon page of source material. I understand that for some this is a strong point of the work and that Raphael is trying to let these common folk speak for themselves. But the extraordinarily long quotations (sometimes pages in length) prevent Raphael's own voice and analysis from coming through. And in my opinion, the lengthy quotations from secondary sources could have been eliminated and summarized. He would have been well advised to limit the direct quotations and focus on a more in-depth analysis. After all, if one wanted to read straight primary sources, there are collections of documents available. But these flaws notwithstanding, the book deserves a read, if only to fill in the gaps left by high school history courses.

This book continues in the Howard Zinn tradition of trying to focus on groups of people and causes that are not necesarily part of the mainstream. Though not as well written and researched as People's History of the United States, Raphael does do a good job of telling about how different groups saw and participated in the American Revolution. There is plenty of important information such as the large numbers of people in pacifist religious groups like the Quakers and German protestant groups like the mennanites and shakers who were against all war because all the fighting they had seen in Europe through the centuries. It also deals with groups like Native Americans, African Americans and women. These groups were not treated as whole members of society before or after the revolution (not to say that their condition would have improved under continued English rule) so it was interesting to see their involvement and opposition to their war. In addition, the book deals with fronteir groups that suppored American independence, not just northern merchants or southern plantation owners that we are more familiar with.

Most history of the American Revolution focuses on "the founding fathers" and particular events. Ray Raphael's book, the first in a Howard Zinn series, gives credit to everyday people and seldom told events. Adams, Jefferson, Washington et al would have hardly been able to found a country without the massive support of the anonymus masses.

Most impressive about Rapahel's book is that he allows the facts to do the talking. Many authors argue a case but haardly bother to back it up, not Raphael. Equally important, the book is a good read. Some history books with a series of stories become tedious, but Raphel's writing is crisp as he weaves incidents together.

The book also exposes the violent, viscious nature of people, with tarring and feathering and other public humiliations regularly doled out to citizens out of favor in their community. We are reminded that while the common folks were heroes of the Revolution, they were hardly saints in the way they carried out retribution and their perception of justice.

But the primary contribution of the book is to give a fuller more honest view of the American Revolution, how it could happen and who deserves credit, besides those familiar figures so prominent in American text books.