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poisonenvy's review against another edition
5.0
I may not know for sure how I came to read this book, but I have a pretty good idea that it was likely because one of these speeches was included in "Rants And Incendiary Tracts" by Bob Black and Adam Parfey in 2016, and I am glad I read it. Howard Zinn was a great speaker, and his speeches really leave you with something to think about. I regret deeply that I hadn't heard of or listened to him when he was still alive.
Howard Zinn has some incredibly thoughtful critiques of America and war mongering. I couldn't help but think throughout all of this what he would have said about Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, and the state of America in the present day. I'm sure he would have a lot of really great things to say about it, but I suppose that we'll never really know.
The major problem I had with this book is likely a problem I would have with any speech collections. Speeches, by their nature, have to be repetitive. Someone might not have been to Zinn's 20 speeches before the one they came to, so they wouldn't know all he had to say about Emma Goldman or Shay's Rebellion. But including them all in a book like this got to be painfully repetitive. I don't know how that can be fixed, or even if it could be, aside from perhaps choosing different speeches or cutting parts of speeches (which is definitely not something you should do for all sorts of reasons). But even with all that repetition, it was still a great read.
Howard Zinn has some incredibly thoughtful critiques of America and war mongering. I couldn't help but think throughout all of this what he would have said about Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, and the state of America in the present day. I'm sure he would have a lot of really great things to say about it, but I suppose that we'll never really know.
The major problem I had with this book is likely a problem I would have with any speech collections. Speeches, by their nature, have to be repetitive. Someone might not have been to Zinn's 20 speeches before the one they came to, so they wouldn't know all he had to say about Emma Goldman or Shay's Rebellion. But including them all in a book like this got to be painfully repetitive. I don't know how that can be fixed, or even if it could be, aside from perhaps choosing different speeches or cutting parts of speeches (which is definitely not something you should do for all sorts of reasons). But even with all that repetition, it was still a great read.
papablues050164's review against another edition
4.0
Very early on there was a section in the first speech presented that really struck me, in part because this observation was made in April, 1963, but also because of its relevance: “Forty million people, under $2,000 a year…Look at the concentration of wealth, on the other hand. One percent of the population, 700,000 families, own 25 percent of all the money, stocks, bonds, real estate, all the tangible assets, in the country. And furthermore, this hasn’t changed much over the years. “
This should be required reading; we should bind every nativist ignoramus in this country to a chair and force-feed them these speeches. Again & again over the year, Zinn reminds us that change never comes from the top down, never at the pleasure of our Congress. It has to happen when a mass movement of people become too large a body to ignore; when the people say, ‘Enough, we’re done waiting for you to change’. These are the words of a man who fought for his country, who found reason to question our rationales of war, and found them wanting. Words that’ll remind us that we can love your country while remaining critical of our government. Not that his reasoning is always perfect; in his frequent nods to the passage of the 13th,14th & 15th Amendments to the Constitution, Zinn forgets to mention that without the Confederate states to block them, passage of those Amendments became a surer deal; in fact, those Southern states were not allowed back into the Union until they ratified them. Finally, we should take to heart his reminder that all governments rely on the obedience of their people; that once the people withdraw that obedience,, once they start defying bad laws like the Fugitive Slave Law, once soldiers refuse to fight in unjust wars, that government stands on very shaky ground.
This should be required reading; we should bind every nativist ignoramus in this country to a chair and force-feed them these speeches. Again & again over the year, Zinn reminds us that change never comes from the top down, never at the pleasure of our Congress. It has to happen when a mass movement of people become too large a body to ignore; when the people say, ‘Enough, we’re done waiting for you to change’. These are the words of a man who fought for his country, who found reason to question our rationales of war, and found them wanting. Words that’ll remind us that we can love your country while remaining critical of our government. Not that his reasoning is always perfect; in his frequent nods to the passage of the 13th,14th & 15th Amendments to the Constitution, Zinn forgets to mention that without the Confederate states to block them, passage of those Amendments became a surer deal; in fact, those Southern states were not allowed back into the Union until they ratified them. Finally, we should take to heart his reminder that all governments rely on the obedience of their people; that once the people withdraw that obedience,, once they start defying bad laws like the Fugitive Slave Law, once soldiers refuse to fight in unjust wars, that government stands on very shaky ground.
nhusain14's review
3.0
"I want to read you something that Vanzetti had in his pocket when he was on that streetcar in Brockton the day he was arrested. What he had in his pocket was a leaflet advertising a meeting where he was going to speak. The leaflet said, 'You have fought all the wars. You have worked for all the capitalists. You have wandered all over the countries. Have you harvested the fruits of your labors, the price of your victories? Does the past comfort you? Does the present smile on you? Does the future promise you anything? Have you found a piece of land where you can live like a human being and die like a human being? On these questions, on this argument and on this theme, the struggle for existence, Bartolomeo Vanzetti will speak.'
Of course, he never got to give that speech. But I thought that says it. You don't want to let somebody make a speech like that. If that speech were made often enough, by enough people, to enough people, in a country where for so many people that message resonates, we might have some resounding movement for social change."
Of course, he never got to give that speech. But I thought that says it. You don't want to let somebody make a speech like that. If that speech were made often enough, by enough people, to enough people, in a country where for so many people that message resonates, we might have some resounding movement for social change."
anndouglas's review
5.0
This was the very first book I read this year, way back in January. (January feels like a long time ago: a lifetime ago, in many ways.) I'm glad I took a lot of notes while I was reading this passionate and thought-provoking collection of speeches because that is making it easier for me to remember all the things I loved about this book, most notably the boldness and urgency of the ideas and the warmth and humanity of the author.
This quote from the book seems particularly timely and important: "Crisis can cause you to reexamine the premises on which you have operated for a very long time. I do not know if that will happen, but the possibility is there. The other possibility is that we will not take advantage of this moment and we will settle back into cycles in which we go from ordinary misery to extreme misery and back." (From a speech delivered in 2008, during the global financial crisis.)
This quote from the book seems particularly timely and important: "Crisis can cause you to reexamine the premises on which you have operated for a very long time. I do not know if that will happen, but the possibility is there. The other possibility is that we will not take advantage of this moment and we will settle back into cycles in which we go from ordinary misery to extreme misery and back." (From a speech delivered in 2008, during the global financial crisis.)
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