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"I've been searching hard for a highlight. The only thing that comes close is some of Obama's rhetoric; I don't see any kind of a highlight in his actions and policies." He added that he didn't expect much as "a traditional Democrat president (on foreign policy is) "hardly any different from a Republican." He concluded that "Obama is going to be a mediocre president - which means, in our time, a dangerous president - unless there is some national movement to push him in a better direction."
Boston Globe writers Mark Feeney and Bryan Marquard headlined, "Howard Zinn, historian who challenged status quo, dies at 87," saying his "activism was a natural extension of the revisionist brand of history he taught." It was "a recipe for rancor between Dr. Zinn and John Silber, former (Boston University) president. Dr. Zinn, a leading critic of Silber, twice helped lead faculty votes to oust" (him), who in turn once accused Dr. Zinn of arson, (a charge he quickly retracted, but called him a) "prime example of teachers 'who poison the well of academe.' "
The writers quoted Boston Globe columnist James Carroll, a good friend of Zinn's for many years, calling him "simply one of the greatest Americans of our time. He will not be replaced - or soon forgotten. How we loved him back."
The London Guardian's writer Godfrey Hodgson called him a "Radical US historian and leftwing activist who fought for peace and human rights. (As a) much-loved and much-vituperated icon of the American left, (he was) always a courageous and articulate campaigner for his vision of a just and peaceful America."
Few could deny his commitment to his core belief - "that people should stand for their rights and their vision of the good society." For decades, Zinn did that and more with the best of the most committed.
"A People's History of the United States"
First published in 1980, it became an extraordinary non-fiction best seller at over two million copies and counting. Its first edition was runner-up for the National Book Award. Enlightened teachers made it required high school and college reading throughout the country. It became an acclaimed play, and, in 2003, won the Prix des Amis du Monde Diplomatique for the book's French edition. AK Press also produced a video of readings, and the History Channel aired Zinn narrating The People Speak, a film version of noted passages of "Voices of a People's History of the United States," presenting the words of labor and anti-war activists, anti-racists, feminists, socialists, and others rarely heard.
In 2004, Zinn and Anthony Arnove published the above-mentioned companion volume, "Voices of a People's History of the United States," on the writing, speeches, poems, songs, and other material produced by notable figures, including Frederick Douglass, Henry David Thoreau, Upton Sinclair, Emma Goldman, Eugene Debs, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Leonard Peltier, Noam Chomsky, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and many others.
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