#6 in History books
Use arrows to jump to the previous/next product

Reddit mentions of A People's History of the United States

Sentiment score: 31
Reddit mentions: 117

We found 117 Reddit mentions of A People's History of the United States. Here are the top ones.

A People's History of the United States
Buying options
View on Amazon.com
or
    Features:
  • Designed to give you Energy, improve your concentration and general health
  • Includes one gold and one silver acupressure ring and a velvet carrying pouch
  • Based on Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture Techniques
  • Medium and Small Size Available
  • Made out of stainless steel
Specs:
Height8 Inches
Length5.3125 Inches
Number of items1
Release dateAugust 2005
Weight1.34922904344 Pounds
Width1.23077 Inches

idea-bulb Interested in what Redditors like? Check out our Shuffle feature

Shuffle: random products popular on Reddit

Found 117 comments on A People's History of the United States:

u/sympathico · 96 pointsr/politics

I heard in "Goodwill Hunting" about the book from Howard Zinn that would knock you on your ass, A People's History of the United States. I did, and it did.

And you are correct, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

u/cinemabaroque · 38 pointsr/AdviceAnimals

You know what I hate? The fact that black communities have been isolated in economic ghettos by Federal Government policies like redlining and then have to put up with ignorant people like you who ignore all the crime in white communities so you can hate on people different than you.

You want cultural differences, how about Meth? Or a history of owning slaves? Or maybe you mean the fact that we imprison people who use one type of cocaine for much longer than the kind that is popular with white people?

This is the type of stupidity and ignorance that makes reddit look ugly, why don't you go read some actual history before making up hateful shit about black people?

u/Always_Excited · 23 pointsr/politics

people's history of the united states by howard zinn

Not about nazism, but very relevant if you're an american trying to make sense of this country.

u/virtuous_d · 20 pointsr/Paleo

Nutrition is just the tip of the iceberg. Try mathematics, history and civics, literature...

u/Flat_prior · 16 pointsr/ShitAmericansSay

Here too. I was raised in Michigan and our history courses were a joke. I also learned we dominated the world in WWII, saved the allies, we're the reason you aren't speaking German, Reaganomics propelled capitalism to Super Saiyan level two, which killed communism, etc. Also, we gave black people rights but they haven't quite managed to get it together.

If you want to learn the things the Republicans don't want you to know, you can either read A People's History of the United States or watch it on Netflix.

u/T1mac · 16 pointsr/politics

I think if Coleman and Krieger ever read "A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present" by Howard Zinn I think they would have a stroke. Or their heads would explode. One of the two.

u/Sixteenbit · 14 pointsr/history

This is something that takes a lot of practice, and many schools don't or can't teach it. Fear not, it's easier than it sounds.

First, some background:

http://www.amazon.com/Global-History-Modern-Historiography/dp/0582096065

This will introduce you to most of the historical method used today. It's quite boring, but if you're going to study history, you'll need to get used to reading some pretty dry material.

For a styleguide, use Diana Hacker's:
http://www.amazon.com/Pocket-Style-Manual-Diana-Hacker/dp/0312542542/

It will teach you everything you need to know about citations.

As far as getting better at source analysis, that's something that comes with time in class and practice with primary and secondary source documents. If you're just going into college, it's something you're going to learn naturally.

However, I do have some tips.
-The main goal of a piece of historiography is to bring you to a thesis and then clearly support that argument. All REAL historiography asks a historical question of some sort. I.E. not when and where, but a more contextual why and how.

-Real historiography is produced 99.9% of the time by a university press, NOT A PRIVATE FIRM. If a celebrity wrote it, it's probably not history.

-Most, if not all real historiography is going to spell out the thesis for you almost immediately.

-A lot of historiography is quite formulaic in terms of its layout and how it's put together on paper:

A. Introduction -- thesis statement and main argument followed by a brief review of past historiography on the subject.

B Section 1 of the argument with an a,b, and c point to make in support.

C just like B

D just like B again, but reinforces A a little more

E Conclusion, ties all sections together and fully reinforces A.

Not all works are like this, but almost every piece you will write in college is or should be.

Some history books that do real history (by proper historians) and are easy to find arguments in, just off the top of my head:

http://www.amazon.com/Wages-Whiteness-American-Working-Haymarket/dp/1844671453

http://www.amazon.com/Economists-Guns-Authoritarian-Development-U-S--Indonesian/dp/0804771820/

http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Battalions-Crisis-American-Nationality/dp/0805081380

For the primer on social histories, read Howard Zinn:
http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States-Present/dp/0060838655/

What you're going to come across MORE often than books is a series of articles that make different (sometimes conflicting) points about a historical issue: (I can't really link the ones I have because of copyright [they won't load without a password], but check out google scholar until you have access to a university library)

Virtually any subject can be researched, you just have to look in the right place and keep an open mind about your thesis. Just because you've found a source that blows away your thesis doesn't mean it's invalid. If you find a wealth of that kind of stuff, you might want to rethink your position, though.


This isn't comprehensive, but I hope it helps. Get into a methods class AS FAST AS POSSIBLE and your degree program will go much, much smoother for you.









u/Zanaver · 14 pointsr/news

"his way of life" was built around the social hierarchy that was slavery. "The average Confederate soldier" didn't want slaves to be on the same class level as him. The vast majority volunteered to fight, only 12% of Confederate forces were drafted.

Ignoring that there were (and still are) racial tensions in the south and that a civil war broke out over something ambitious as "states' rights" is pretty ridiculous. Especially when the states still had their rights to establish and enforce the Jim Crow laws.

edit: anyone who disagrees with this post I made needs to read A People's History of the United States

u/makehertalk · 12 pointsr/politics

A People's History of the United States discusses the subject of manufactured racial strife extensively.
I recommend this book for this, as well as many other highly useful facts that are typically omitted from the normal discussions of US history.

u/Hypnot0ad · 12 pointsr/Foodforthought

As they say, history book are written by the winners.

If you want to see more of the ugly parts of (the US) history that the books left out, I suggest A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn.

u/ballzwette · 10 pointsr/politics

In addition to ignoring the Labor Movement.

Zinn for the win!

u/HyprAwakeHyprAsleep · 9 pointsr/TrollXChromosomes

Whew, okay. Pulled out my actual computer to answer this.
So, a lot of what I could recommend isn't short stuff you could read in an afternoon because 1. it's depressing as fuck, and 2. it's likely heavy with the sheer volume of references wherein at least one book attempts to bludgeon you with the facts that "this was depressing as fuck." Frequent breaks or alternating history-related books with fiction/poetry/other topics is rather recommended from my experience. Can't remember if I got onto this topic through Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States or Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong or just some random book found in the library.

The very clean cut, textbook Wikipedia definition of "sundown town", aka "Don't let the sun set (down) on you here.", (Ref: BlackThen.com), is:
> sometimes known as sunset towns or gray towns, are all-white municipalities or neighborhoods in the United States that practice a form of segregation by enforcing restrictions excluding people of other races via some combination of discriminatory local laws, intimidation, and violence.

For my intro into the subject however, read Buried in the Bitter Waters: The Hidden History of Racial Cleansing in America. This is a very emotionally draining, mentally exhausting book though, frequently with lists of atrocities in paragraph form. I think it's an important read, one which frankly should've been covered my senior year of highschool or so, but it's a difficult one. Also on my reading list is The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration which is a surprising and sneakily hopeful title for such a depressing topic, so only guessing the narration may be somewhat more accessible.

Also, 'cause I totally didn't run to my kindle app to list out titles before fully reading your post, here's some below, and relisted one above, by timeline placement, best as can be figured. These might not be the best on each topic, but they're the ones available to my budget at the time and some are still on my reading list.

The Fires of Jubilee: Nat Turner's Fierce Rebellion

u/jklap · 9 pointsr/books

A People's History Of The United States by Howard Zinn

Amazon Link

u/pablo95 · 8 pointsr/politics

A Peoples History Of the United States is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in politics, history, or sociology.

u/_diacetylmorphine- · 8 pointsr/news

Dude... It was never great by any stretch of the imagination.

Good primer would be Zinn's "People's History of the United States". In the words of Matt Damon, that book will "blow your hair back".

About the only thing remotely "good" this country ever really accomplished as a whole was assisting the Allied Forces in securing a victory in WW2. And the only real significant part we played in that (as far as the European theater) was materiel. If it wasn't for Operation Barbarossa and the Soviets kicking the ever loving shit out of the German forces we would have been destroyed (or never really got involved in the first place).

Edit: I'd like to add that even the "good" done in WW2 must be tempered by the fact that even General Curtis LeMay commented "I suppose if I had lost the war, I would have been tried as a war criminal". We were most certainly guilty of horrific atrocities and violation of international standards of war (i.e. the Dresden and Tokyo fire bombings that actively targeted civilian populations) among other thing.

u/[deleted] · 7 pointsr/politics

I believe there's a section on this in Zinn's A People's History of the United States. Indeed there were quite a few convicts sent to America in the early days, though I'm unsure of exact numbers. Before the establishment of the colonies really took hold, the New England winters were a death sentence, and America became a dumping ground for undesirables.

u/Wunishikan · 6 pointsr/socialism

A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn is good, although it talks more about the history of labor and oppression in the US than about what socialism itself is. Still, it's quite eye-opening, and this was the book that turned me.

u/BowlOfCandy · 6 pointsr/technology

I highly recommend the book A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn. RIP.

u/OnionMan69 · 6 pointsr/todayilearned

You don't?

Because for a very long time in this country. In fact, for most of it's history, this country was violently racist. In fact, so many people of color were left out of opportunities that cost them their children's birthright, all to satisfy a status quo of whites first and everyone else dead.

Capice?

Live Read a little!

u/Daaachiefs · 6 pointsr/ShitAmericansSay

Yes. You could write a book with this as a premise. in fact there is a book that everyone in this sub would like. It's called "a people's history of the United States" by Howard Zinn. It's a classic book that is a detailed criticism of the US policies over the years. Treatment of native Americans, slavery, women's rights, treatment of immigrants in the early 1900s, Vietnam, all the way to bush and Iraq. All the stuff we didn't go into much in school. We have a very biased version of history taught in our schools. Everything is spun in a way to make America good.

Link to book https://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States/dp/0060838655

u/labrutued · 5 pointsr/Anarchism

All history you learn in high school is that kind of bullshit. Unfortunately, a lot of history books will give you the propaganda dissipated at the time as fact, much as I imagine nationalistic history books written in 200 years will quote from CNN and Fox to describe Bush's great war against the terrorists who hate our freedom. People don't like questioning nationalistic mythologies. Especially when they explain that we're all great heroes of idealistic freedom.

Given that you're on /r/Anarchism, you'd probably enjoy A People's History of the United States. Or really anything by Howard Zinn. The Populist Movement by Lawrence Goodwyn is good for talking about the post-Civil War era economic bullshit. Any biographies or autobiographies of the founders (even those written from a nationalistic point of view) will be unable to hide their business dealings and positions of power before, during, and after the revolution.

Any decent US history class you take should have a good list of readings. Better than I can remember off the top of my head.

If you have a Kindle The Autobiography of Ben Franklin is free and goes into great detail about his wealth, his positions in the Pennsylvania colonial government before the revolution, and his terms as President of Pennsylvania after the revolution (before the Constitution was adopted abolishing such positions). It does, of course, completely gloss over the fact that he knocked up a prostitute at 19, or that he was constantly having affairs. But often history is about recognizing what people aren't saying.

u/output_overload · 5 pointsr/politics

Ever heard of a history book?

The People's History of the United States.

You should read it.

u/twitchster · 5 pointsr/Firearms

Gitmo, the secret prisons in Chicago, and Stop and Frisk, are all rights violations.

I do not support any rights violations by the Fed, State, or Local Governments.

You have a choice - you may stay ignorant.

OR - you can be come educated.

I advise reading the following:

Battle of Athens:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Athens_(1946)

TLDR: WWII Vets remove corrupt Mayor & Sheriff from office, after inaction from the Fed.


This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed:

http://www.amazon.com/This-Nonviolent-Stuffll-Get-Killed/dp/0465033105

TLDR: Visiting Martin Luther King Jr. at the peak of the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, journalist William Worthy almost sat on a loaded pistol. “Just for self defense,” King assured him. It was not the only weapon King kept for such a purpose; one of his advisors remembered the reverend’s Montgomery, Alabama home as “an arsenal.”

Like King, many ostensibly “nonviolent” civil rights activists embraced their constitutional right to selfprotection—yet this crucial dimension of the Afro-American freedom struggle has been long ignored by history.


A People's History of the United States

http://www.amazon.com/A-Peoples-History-United-States/dp/0060838655

TLDR: We have a 40 hour work week, weekends, the right to organize and join a Union. All purchased with bloodshed, and via the barrel of a gun.

Banning guns = Tyranny.

All forward social progress will cease if we give in to tyranny.

u/Cyhawk · 5 pointsr/TumblrInAction

The Redneck Manifesto, Jim Goad puts a good finger on why exactly people in the US confuse class with race and even predicted the rise of SJWs to some extent years ago. Other material such as Lies my Teacher Told me and A people's history of the United States help put a better perspective from a historical standpoint.

TL;DR the books: The Wealthy (read: Not rich, but wealthy) decided that after the Civil War and after the conclusion of the French Revolution, they would pit the poor against each other and fight for the scraps instead of turning their eyes upward and see who is dropping the scraps. Seems to be working well.

u/railzen · 4 pointsr/korea

> I completely disagree with all your points other than the last one. I'm Korean, but I tried to write that from an international perspective. Honestly I didn't put a great deal of thought into the 'unpatriotic' implications because I think we should start moving past the 'OMG KOREA IS THE BEST OMG OMG' narrative that comes from most story concepts written by Koreans that take place in Korea.

Except it's not being written by Koreans.

> The main reason I began with a Japanese protagonist was because I wanted to open with the Sino-Japanese war. I also felt that opening with a Japanese character would be much more marketable to American (the biggest game market) audiences as they are much more familiar to Japan and then gradually introduce Korea as an independent country with significantly different culture. Having a foreign protagonist learning about the country is a tried and true method of doing so. I felt this would be a more appropriate way than to just ram gamers into a completely unfamiliar background leaving them confused.

This is also the same line of reasoning that led to the complete cast white washing of The Last Airbender, 21, Dragonball Evolution, and the upcoming Akira live action film.

It's also a very pathetic trope rooted deeply in racist colonialism.

> I also made the protagonist half-Japanese as I didn't want to drive home a narrative full of racial hate. I want the story to focus more on the evil Templars who (fictionally) took control of the Japanese government and call to attention the fact that evil is not racial, but societal, and that everyone has power to change it. Call that white-washing if you want. Personally I think it's a better way to stop this racial circlejerk bullshit.

I don't understand this line of thought. All it does is continually relegate the poor, beleaguered natives as sheep that can exist only to be controlled or freed upon the whim of the oppressor.

> I had also just finished reading Korea's Fight For Freedom by Fred McKenzie this very morning which is the main reason I was compelled to think of a story with this background. Among other things it outlines in some detail why the Japanese were so interested in the peninsula, and briefly goes into the Sino-Japanese war (which I see as the most significant event during that era).

Why can none of this be shown from a Korean perspective? I'd recommend another book: A People's History of the United States. Assassin's Creed is about freedom for those who live under oppression.

This is also why in Assassin's Creed: Liberation, most of the Assassins you encounter are actually former black slaves. You pretty much reverted this message by making your protagonist Japanese. The half Korean part doesn't do much because he never had a Korean identity to begin with.

> Also, you do realize how barebones that storyline was right? I skimped on describing Japanese atrocities as I've seen enough of that on this subreddit. Yes, my grandmother (who I currently live with) also speaks Japanese and has countless horror stories. She still uses Japanese terms for cooking ingredients. I even have a great aunt who apparently committed suicide in the 70s because of PTSD from being a comfort woman. I too feel the 한 when it comes to Korean history, but I think enough is enough. Every time Japan comes up in this subreddit I see a fuck ton of bashing. Does it really need to be mentioned in every gory detail every time?

What gory details did I mention? What was I bashing? I just thought it was surprising that in your barebones storyline, the most important details were about concubines and queens and not the injustices that were happening at the time when civil oppression is a hallmark of the franchise. AC3 devoted a lot of time to the ambiguous moral conflict between the colonists and the Indians.

It's strange that you didn't think the brutality of the Imperial regime was something worth mentioning in your stripped down storyline.

> For this fictional story, in my mind, 유관순 was more the product of love between two charismatic characters rather than a bastardization of history. In my mind she was the product of a father that had committed an unforgivable crime (the murder of Empress Myeongseoung) trying to redeem himself, and a mother that managed to overcome seeing that sin and loving the man instead, producing a daughter that could look past petty racial differences and focus on the issue of colonialism (From what I learned in public school about 유관순 she was different from a lot of her contemporaries because she didn't focus on hatred of the Japanese which was an easy narrative to sell, instead she tried to incite a hunger for actual independence of the Korean people).

Let me draw an analogy. Perhaps it will shed some light on why what you are suggesting is off base.

Imagine if Ubisoft made an AC game set during the British Raj and historically revised Gandhi's heritage so he's actually the bastard of a British noble and an Indian concubine. Does this sound like a touching commentary on overcoming petty racial hatreds to you?

> As for your last point, yeah, the 'going native' tool is common because it's a good tool for introducing an audience to an unfamiliar setting without a fuck ton of confusion. It might be overused, but it sure is effective.

Did Assassin's Creed need some English crusader to "go native" with the local Arab culture to portray what life was like in the Holy Land during the 1100s? Did Assassin's Creed 3 need to pull a Last of the Mohigans?

This trope exists because it panders to ethnic superiority fantasies, not because it allows a foreign audience to connect better to an exotic setting.

u/ahhdum · 4 pointsr/esist

Terrorist:

noun
1.
a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.

If you havent already, you should read 'A People's History Of The United States' by Howard Zinn.

u/heyimamaverick · 4 pointsr/politics

He may be better served by A People's History of the United States.

u/TheTeachingMirror · 4 pointsr/Teachers

World History: Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. (It is also made as a documentary now)

US History: A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

In regards to being sensitive for issues like slavery and the Holocaust, I recommend Teaching Tolerance. They have some good resources.

u/macosxsealion · 3 pointsr/politics

Let's not ignore what really happens to people:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0060838655/

Also. Let's not ignore that not many liberals are against capitalism. (though that doesn't make for interesting Talk Radio and Fox news analysis.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism

u/from_the_tubes · 3 pointsr/politics

This whole post is arguing against a point no one made. Unprecedented is not synonymous with the worst thing ever done, and that's not even what WhenWillILearn was saying. He/she said unprecedented authoritarianism could be synonymous with that, and that's a pretty big difference.

Besides, far worse authoritarianism has existed in this country's history. The genocide of the native population, enslavement of African-Americans, and use of deadly force against striking workers are a few that come to mind. Shit, during the civil war the government shut down newspapers and imprisoned people for even speaking out against them.

Instead of a dictionary though, might I suggest reading a history book? start with this one.

u/MagicWishMonkey · 3 pointsr/AskReddit

Check out A People's History of the United States: http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States-Present/dp/0060838655/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279572161&sr=8-1

Our history is pretty fucked up, prepare for a depressing read.

u/jerrymatthewmorris · 3 pointsr/funny
  1. There is a lot of reason to think the Nazi party would not rise to power without Hitler. http://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/timeline/nazirise.htm

  2. Columbus was also one man. Take him away, and the colonization of America by Europe still happens (at least, by logic equal to what you're using).

  3. If Columbus never came to America, European Americans would simply be Europeans (except those with Native American genetics). Arguing that we'd be different people goes back to the snowball effect that you say you're not trying to argue.

  4. The first to resort to personal attacks is usually the one losing the argument. (ref: "OMG...Seriously you cannot be this stupid.")

    Give this a read:
    http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinncol1.html

    Alternatively, just buy the book:
    http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States-Present/dp/0060838655

    It was part of our required history reading in high school.

    Excerpt from Columbus's writing:
    >As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts.
u/Fenzir · 3 pointsr/infj

Is it truly the duty of the conquered and oppressed to bend to the conquerer?

Gitchu some of this, then get back to me.

There are only so many cheeks to be turned.

u/prinzplagueorange · 3 pointsr/PoliticalDiscussion

Becoming politically literate is not like learning how to fix a car. There is no "unbiased" how-to manual. The reason for this is that political discussions consist of claims about: a) what the facts are, b) which facts matter and how they matter, c) whose claims about the facts are trustworthy, and d) what justice consists of. Most of these disputes are ideological, and so you will not find an ideologically netural ("unbiased") account of politics.

I would suggest immersing yourself in different political media and then see which points of view tend to best account for the facts and to best correspond to your sense of justice. Spend some time watching Fox news (hard-right), skimming through the NY Times (center-right), and and then listen to FAIR's Counterspin (hard-left).

Here are some books I would recommend. (These are all written from a hard-left to center-left perspective, but their authors are all serious scholars/intellectuals, and you will learn a lot from them.)

-Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States

-Vijay Prashad's The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World

-Joseph Stiglitz's The Great Divide: Unequal Societies and What We Can Do About Them

-Doug Henwood's After the New Economy

u/Thurkagord · 3 pointsr/Libertarian

I did actually, back when I didn't pay attention to how the real world worked, and just thought that the general, vague concept of "more freedom" sounded good. Maybe I didn't go full tilt into internet Libertarian where the closest thing to a structural critique comes down to "taxation is theft!!" and "Dale gets it!" and all real analysis is predicated on thought experiments, hypothetical fantasy worlds, and have no real foundation in the reality in which we live. Like honestly, if you do any actual examination of how society is structured, and you STILL think that government and taxation, as a concept, are the most oppressive forces in the world keeping you from success rather than the moneyed interests that manipulate and fuel legislative policy, then your vicious meme takedowns are going to contribute nothing to discussion or understanding beyond giving yourself a temporary right-wing dopamine rush of 0wn1ng the l1bz.

If you'd like a chance to broaden your understanding of some of the structural concepts I am referring to, rather than just a general title of "liberal" or whatever, here are just a couple pretty basic reading options to get you started.

​

A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn (1980)

The Revolution of Everyday Life by Raoul Vaneigem (1968)

The Shock Doctrine: Rise of Disaster Capitalism, by Naomi Klein (2006)

​

​

u/jddrummond · 3 pointsr/booksuggestions

A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

This is a natural follow up to Lies My Teacher Told Me and a classic among "woke" books.

u/Borimi · 3 pointsr/history

I'm assuming here that you haven't really studied any history since high school, and at the time you likely found it dreadfully boring (don't we all). If this is correct, take solace in the fact that you were being taught history in likely the worst way possible, and the system almost seems designed to bore you and the rest of the students to death.

One tactic, then, would be for you to work on thinking about history more as it is: seeking answers to the fundamental "why" questions that tell what it means, collectively, to be us. It's a study of choices and struggles and understanding the challenging, horrible, daunting circumstances they faced. High school curriculum drives out such notions of struggle and difficulty because they invite controversial questions, like why the rich manipulated the poor or why the white mistreated and killed the black/Native American. In doing so they deny any of the historical actors, whether oppressed or oppressor, their humanity, and without that who cares about studying them?

I would hope that once you get more exposed to actual history and not names and dates, that you'll grow more of a natural interest for the subject. As such, I have two books to recommend you:

  1. A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn. This book, initially controversial, will turn your initially learned narrative of American history on its head. The good people are usually bad and the quiet people are loud. Be careful, though. It's a new, highly useful angle from which to view American history but its not some gospel of truth either, just because it has a forbidden fruit feel, like you're learning what they don't want you to know.

  2. Lies my Teacher Told Me by James Loewen. This book says in better words that I mentioned already, how school textbooks water down American history into nothing so that everyone swallows it without complaint. It'll also shake up a bunch of assumptions and, hopefully, leave you wanting more.

    These books won't give you a complete view of American history but my hope is that they'll introduce you to a form of history that's interesting while also exposing you to a wide array of American history topics. From there you can see what you actually enjoy learning about and pick better books from there.
u/captain_craptain · 3 pointsr/pics

I would recommend this but there are a lot of good sources out there that will give you an honest narrative on the war. The book I recommended covers just about everything so just chapter 9 is what you would want. A book specifically on the Civil war may be a better tool.

u/uncomfortablyhigh · 3 pointsr/LonghornNation

So it took a year of on-and-off reading, but I finally finished Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States.

Anybody here ever give it a read? I think the salient takeaway I had was that almost all of the social issues discussed via old and new media today (racism, economic freedom, war, politics) have occurred and been solved -- to an extent -- with relative frequency over the history of the US. There's a lot to take away from our history that grants perspective regarding modern struggle, which in turns has a calming effect.

Time is a flat circle, I guess. Everything we have done or will do we will do over and over, forever. Something comforting in knowing that.

u/mechtonia · 3 pointsr/AskEngineers

Pick up a book on American labor history. A People's History of the United States is a good one.

If we built an automated port, the unions would strike at all the non-automated ports. All shipping would grind to a halt.

u/daretoeatapeach · 2 pointsr/education

Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto

The opening essay of this short read is a condemnation of traditional schooling techniques---and it's also the speech he delivered when he (again) won the NY Teacher of the Year award. Gatto gets at the heart of why public schools consistently produce pencil pushers, not leaders. Every teacher should read this book.

How to Survive in Your Native Land by James Herndon

If Dumbing Us Down is the manifesto in favor of a more liberal pedagogy, Herdon's book is a memoir of someone trying to put that pedagogy in action. It's also a simple, beautiful easy to read book, the kind that is so good it reminds us just how good a book can be. I've read the teaching memoir that made Jonahton Kozol famous, this one is better.

The Montessori Method by Maria Montessori

In the early 1900s, Maria Montessori taught literacy to children that society had otherwise assumed were unreachable. She did this by using the scientific method to study each child's learning style. Some of what she introduced has been widely incorporated (like child-sized furniture) and some of it seems great but unworkable in overcrowded schools. The bottom line is that the Montessori method was one of the first pedagogical techniques that was backed by real results: both in test scores and in growing kids that thrive on learning and participation.

"Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?": A Psychologist Explains the Development of Racial Identity by Beverly Daniel Tatum

While not precisely a book on how to teach, this book is incredibly helpful to any teacher working with a diverse student population, or one where the race they are teaching differs from their own. It explains the process that white, black, and children of other races go through in identifying themselves as part of a particular race. In the US, race is possibly the most taboo subject, so it is rare to find a book this honest and straightforward on a subject most educators try not to talk about at all. I highly recommend this book.

If there is any chance you will be teaching history, definitely read:

Lies My Teacher Told Me and A People's History of the United States (the latter book is a classic and, personally, changed my life).

Also recommend: The Multi-player Classroom by Lee Sheldon and Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov

Finally, anyone who plans to teach math should read this essay, "Lockhart's Lament" [PDF at the bottom of the page].

PS, I was tempted to use Amazon affiliate links, but my conscious wouldn't let me.

u/ExtremsTivianne · 2 pointsr/politics

I took APUSH to and there's actually a number of pitfalls to it. Remember that APUSH is focused towards the AP test, so while everyone else will be starting from the Civil War/WWI to the present, you'll be racing through American History from Columbus to Bush Jr all about a month before you have to take the test. The teachers that take AP responsibilities are good, but the knowledge is still incomplete. If you want to get more knowledge (going through my history BA right now) check out a couple of these resources:

A Peoples History of the United States by Howard Zinn: https://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States/dp/0060838655

In the interest of impartiality, I'll mention the more right leaning version of the People's History, A Patriot's History of the United States: https://www.amazon.com/Patriots-History-United-States-Columbuss/dp/1595230327 Note that a large amount of it was written not by the centrist historian Michael Allen, but the more politically motivated Larry Schweikart. Regardless, both of these books are used by APUSH classes throughout the country. I'd just pick one.

Also (this is going to sound really stupid) but a series of documentaries entitled A Walk Through the 20th Century with Bill Moyers where LBJs press secretary Bill Moyers talks about history from a perspective that helps us understand what (in general) people were thinking at the time. Here's one episode on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7eg5TBwJ-Y

Finally, if you want to have some entertaining yet deep history, check out Dan Carlin. He has plenty of extremely informative (if slightly editorialized for entertainment purposes) podcasts. His Blueprint for Armageddon series is one of the most intriguing narratives of World War One I've ever seen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFMT_BVBBsA

u/Mordisquitos · 2 pointsr/books

The inverted bell curve is also pretty common for controversial and polarising issues, for example A People's History of the US, God Is Not Great and 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism.

The way I see it, the inverted bell curve is a warning sign for novels (especially best-sellers) and technical books, but not necessarily for opinionated non-fiction where it may just indicate that many jimmies were rustled.

u/anticapitalist · 2 pointsr/DebateaCommunist

> istory class which I can see is unaccurate now.

Yes, very.

> Would you know a good source to learn up non biased good history?

I don't think there's non-biased history. Everyone is biased.

If you're interested in US history, this is great:

http://www.amazon.com/A-Peoples-History-United-States/dp/0060838655

As for Russian history, most of the stuff that's different (from Western TV) is in Russian.

u/strike2867 · 2 pointsr/worldnews

I don't think you have any clue about American history. I recommend A People's History of the United States.

u/american_apartheid · 2 pointsr/worldnews

oh, my sweet summer child

eugenics isn't unique to nazi germany. Nazi Germany actually got their ideas from the United States.

The US, Canada, and Mexico committed genocides of the native population far larger than the Holocaust.

Hell, slavery in various forms (from penal to chattel) still exists in the US, and several big-name politicians have even leased house slaves.

There is a lot we are not taught about our countries in primary school. I only learned about these things in grad school, and most people are not lucky enough to have gone to grad school. If you want to learn about history from the perspective of the working class, the disabled, and the subaltern, etc., I recommend this book. It is a very good introduction to history from the perspective of those who have been ruled, rather than those who have done the ruling.

If you want to learn more about the dystopian history of these countries, I can direct you to further resources in DMs.

And while you're going through the histories of these nations, just remember to stick to scholarly sources. Evidence-based reasoning is key. There's enough messed up stuff out there that we don't need to jump to conclusions about things that might have happened. A lot of people will try to peddle bullshit about Jews or migrants being the cause of all our ills, but these things are a distraction from the real, systemic, often economic problems at the root of all of this.

u/desvel · 2 pointsr/atheism

But how would you know? You might be interested in these books [1 2 3]

u/lukasmn · 2 pointsr/explainlikeimfive

Here ya go - not that watered down shit you get in school: http://www.amazon.com/A-Peoples-History-United-States/dp/0060838655

u/Ordinate1 · 2 pointsr/POLITIC

> Trump Voters and history!

That's from Howard Zinn you fascist asshole!

https://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States/dp/0060838655

u/Cargobiker530 · 2 pointsr/PoliticalHumor

Or.......... ClusterJones is 18, just moved to somewhere his parents doesn't control the internet and is reading beyond his home-skoolin. (Good job dude) Because somebody's post and comment history says that all over the dang place.

Try "A People's History of The United States" first. It's a good read and far more relevant to modern politics than Marx. Or Iain M. Banks Culture novels if you want to read what Elon Musk reads. If you want to know what the Google founders were thinking read "Snow Crash" and "The Diamond Age" by Stephenson. These are far more relevant to the world you live in today than Marx.

u/ekofromlost · 2 pointsr/pearljam

This one intrigued me for so long because I only had it in Audio. It was just after Nothingman, in NY-2010.
Nothingman has a very cool "Into the sun...Into the sun...." part, and Eddie tells the story when he sang it in Germany kind of doing the Heil Hitler move, you know, arms stretched, palms of hands facing down, and then he saw that big crowd of germans doing it and he went "oh fuck".

Then he went on a typical Eddie talk...even talking about Howard Zinn (I read his books because of that Eddie talk, go figure. He's awesome)

I suggest starting from the beginning and listening to the song, too.



u/justinmchase · 2 pointsr/videos

Read The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness for details, it is very thorough, well sourced and the reasoning is very sound.

The two main ways (but not limited to) that laws are selectively applied to people of color are related to drug possession laws and forfeiture laws.

The basic premise is that studies have shown time and time again that white people use drugs at approximately the same rate or higher than people of color, yet the laws are highly disproportionately applied to people of color.

Forfeiture is another form of disproportionate application of law, where people are profiled by the police and are then searched under threat of violence and then the police take their cash.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. If you want another good book that explains the scam in an even broader historical context then try reading The Peoples History of the United States.

u/SickSalamander · 2 pointsr/AskReddit

A People's History of the United States is a much more enlightening history book.

Guns, Germs and Steel is thoroughly "blah." The official unofficial history. Moderate and wishy washy. Stuck up and biased while claiming to be the most neutral thing ever.

u/kitchen_clinton · 2 pointsr/worldnews

The rapaciousness of the USA has been well documented.


http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States-Present/dp/0060838655.

u/yourelying999 · 2 pointsr/AskALiberal

The vast majority of capital and assets are in the hands of white people. That is an obstacle.

Further explanation gets into history, as today's world is necessarily a product of the history leading to it, and the answer a liberal is giving you is: ask a professor. Their literal job is to study and explain these things. You can keep posting your question, but I gave you the tools to get your answer. Are you actually looking to broaden your knowledge of a subject or is this an exercise in argument for you?

E: here are some books that will answer at least some aspects of your very broad and complex question:

The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein

A People's History of The United States by Howard Zinn

Systematic Racism by Joe Feagin

For a more humanistic account of the black experience, try anything by James Baldwin.

u/WoWAdoree · 2 pointsr/homeschool

I like Big History Project. I modify the work for my younger kids. It's free and covers from when the Earth was formed (not by God) to the present. It's free. There's also Crash Course. It has History and Science (and tons of other) videos that are very short and to the point. There's also CK-12 that has free textbooks, worksheets you can modify, and a ton of other stuff as well. The History of US is great too. My kids hated Story of the World. There is also A People's History of the United States. There's also some great podccasts like American History Tellers, and Forever Ago.

​

I always tried to give my kids a big overview of history, and then we followed what they were interested in. At one point we did aAdd a Century Timeline and wrote out the most important dates in Roller Coaster and theme park history. Then they looked up what was going on historically and figured out if it effected what was going on in theme park history. It made it a lot more meaningful to them, I hope. We also visited as many historical places as we could.

u/watrenu · 2 pointsr/BernItDown

> it's about what we want and if people wanted socialism, we'd have it.

https://www.amazon.ca/Peoples-History-United-States/dp/0060838655

u/Rvb321 · 2 pointsr/SandersForPresident

I'm a big fan of the economist Richard Wolff and his podcast, Economic Update.

Some organizations to consider joining or supporting are
Democratic Socialists of America and Socialist Alternative.

I also encourage everyone to read Bernie's book, if you haven't already.

I would also highly recommend everyone read A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn.

Finally, I encourage everyone to watch the Noam Chomsky documentary, Requiem for The American Dream, on Netflix.

u/Sushitime · 1 pointr/AskReddit

A People's History of the United States - Howard Zinn http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States-Present/dp/0060838655

Will blow everything youve ever learned in history out of the water, and change your views on humanity. My jaw was dropped pretty much every few pages of this book.

u/IllusiveObserver · 1 pointr/politics

I'm glad you liked it. Here is his Youtube channel. Here is a recent speech given by Wolff about a month ago with a colleague of his.

After a long speech like that, it's nice to see people take action. Here is a nice documentary of workers taking action by occupying factories in Argentina, and taking them over. Subtitles available in the video.

Here is the website for the Rosa-Luxemburg foundation in NYC, the foundation of Die Linke in Germany.

Here is a website with documentaries that cover a variety of political issues.

Here is a book that I strongly recommend you read. You can read it for free here.

If you have any other questions or comments, I'll be happy to respond.

u/chefranden · 1 pointr/reddit.com

>What happened to the times when our representatives actually did their job and represented the people?

When was this time? Your consternation comes from having accepted the propaganda that passes for American History in public school.

I suggest a read of The Peoples History of the United States as the beginning of an antidote.

u/SiouxsieHomemaker · 1 pointr/books

That's exactly what I came here for. I also hear this one is pretty good, too.

u/bitter_cynical_angry · 1 pointr/entertainment

>Don't you often celebrate your love for people who have a little good and a lot of bad in them?

Well, no, not really. If they have only a little good but a lot of bad then there's not much to celebrate. I hate to risk Godwinating myself, but they say even Hitler loved dogs and children. The question is how much good and how much bad has the US caused, and at what scales? That is probably not possible to reasonably measure now. Maybe 100 years from now, if any of the transhumans remember what the US was, then we can take a dispassionate look at the historical situation and see how it all worked out.

>it's possible to love it for the good while still hating the bad

Fair enough, but there is no mention in the song of the bad, only the good. I need to have God Bless the USA coming in one ear, and People of the Sun or something coming in the other. :-D

As far as my ambivalent feelings go, that's just the way I feel. I've traveled a fair amount in Europe as well as the US, and it is always a relief to get home. But on the other hand even when I lived in New Jersey, it was never "home" to me, even though it was in America. And I felt a lot more alienated when I was in the deep south than when I was in Germany, say.

A lot of my ambivalence stems from reading books like The Politics of Heroin and A People's History of the United States, and general background reading I've done on stuff like the firebombing of Tokyo and the Banana Wars, etc. Ah I said I wasn't going to go tit-for-tat here, sorry, I'll leave it at that. Anyway, loving America in a realistic way seems to me like what it must be like to have a close family member who beat you as a child or something (maybe not quite that extreme, but you get the picture). It's a complicated kind of love, with a lot of caveats, and to express only the love and not expressing the other part makes me feel a little weird.

Thanks for sticking around and having a civil conversation about this though, it's an interesting subject to talk about.

u/Harry_Seaward · 1 pointr/skeptic

I'm not really that concerned about this... Although it is a little disheartening that someone's personal, politico-religious ideology is so easily injected into public discourse...

However, history books have always glossed over history - telling only the parts that are catchy or needed to pass a particular state-made exam. There is a reason A People's History of the United States had to be written and continued (until Zinn's death, grhs) to be updated. I'm not sure that any historian of any value would look put much stock in what books aimed at children say.

u/jalabi99 · 1 pointr/AskMen

Just a few I've gone through in the past half-year:

The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss

A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter

The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal by Ben Mezrich

Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

and

The South African Gandhi: Stretcher-Bearer of Empire by Prof. Ashwin Desai and Prof. Goolam Vahed

u/eddieIacy · 1 pointr/politics

http://www.amazon.com/A-Peoples-History-United-States/dp/0060838655 A good start to actually learning the history of the US Note the word actually in your response. Had you left out that word you wouldnt come across as a condescending, pretentious dickbag.

u/garyhat · 1 pointr/Braves

Fair question. I think genocide is universally offensive. Although, I will admit to laughing repeatedly at Bill Burr's population control jokes, particularly the one where he says we should randomly take out cruise ships.

You know the reason why that's funny? It's because cruises are expensive and people who tend to go on them are kind of the epitome of wastefulness, just eating and shitting everywhere on a boat. They can therefore be the butt of jokes until the end of time. If, on the other hand, Bill Burr tried to make a joke about taking out flotillas of migrant refugees in the Mediterranean, his career would probably end quickly. Those migrants are a vulnerable population of people who need help. It just isn't funny no matter how to spin it.

Now, I understand that Native Americans are not currently in such a dire state. However, the political situation with Native Americans depends on the acknowledgment of their culture and their sovereignty. It's a sensitive situation. It's not cut and dry. It's not one guy's word over another. Yes, they do have protections under the law, but are their leaders done negotiating? No. Constant lobbying is going on. Why do you think this mascot thing keeps coming up every year? It's usually during the playoffs, when the Braves come under national attention. Every single year. Why is this happening? It's because of the delicate political situation with the Native Americans. I cannot possibly explain it here. All I can say is that you would do yourself a service by reading up on it. You might want to start with Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States.

u/Except-For-Reality · 1 pointr/Libertarian

> It shouldn't be hard to find a link then to back your claim, sources please

I don't have time to walk you through all of this. I'm not a high school history teacher. That said, here are a couple of quick sources to illustrate the point that workers get screwed, government intervention can be a positive, and your fantasy of free negotiation is absurd: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4822a1.htm

http://www.history.com/topics/labor

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/capitalism/landmark_westcoast.html (I'd recommend you read the actual case, as it's an example of lived experiences informing a legal decision to reduce freedom of contract).

If you want to know more I recommend picking up a real book, since it's difficult to get a comprehensive idea of what employment relationships have really been like just from webpages and snapshots of time. Some ideas:

http://www.amazon.com/A-Peoples-History-United-States/dp/0060838655

Or selected chapters from this book http://www.amazon.com/New-Jim-Crow-Incarceration-Colorblindness/dp/1595586431/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421953073&sr=8-1&keywords=the+new+jim+crow&pebp=1421953075409&peasin=1595586431

Or you could even spend time on Google, since it's free.

> I found multiple countries, hardly scattered.

Except that none of those countries actually support your claim. When I said that you could find scattered examples, I was speaking hypothetically, because you haven't provided any, and "yeah but Sweden" isn't an argument, especially when: http://work.sweden.se/living-in-sweden/workers-rights-and-unions/

And again, you're saying that all government intervention should be abolished. You made the claim, now stop trying to pigeonhole the conversation into a discussion about the minimum wage.

u/newloaf · 1 pointr/explainlikeimfive

A People's History of the United States. I was never a rah-rah-USA guy, but this opened my eyes nonetheless.

u/Adahn5 · 1 pointr/socialism

Did I say it depended on their tolerance? There was always antagonism between the two, but there was never combination of impetus, opportunity, ammunition and cause as the post-war period following the Second World War. Once FDR was dead, Truman had taken the vice presidency over Wallace and the Cold War began. It was a confluence of events that allowed them to divide and conquer, first by striking the Communist Party, then the socialists, and so on. Dr. Wolff explains this here and here. So too does A People's History of the United States, and The Untold History of the United States. I recommend both those books.

u/wheelward · 1 pointr/politics

The thing is, I think representatives have always been influenced by special interests ever since before the inception of the United States. However, the way in which special interests have influenced representatives has certainly changed through time.

When the Constitution was signed, "we the people" was not meant to include blacks, Indians, women, or indentured servants. The main reason why George Washington was elected as the first president was because he was by far the wealthiest American at the time. And all of those who signed the Constitution has their vested interests.

That's just one example. Right now I'm reading A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn. And he makes it clear that oligarchic powers have always had a heavy influence on policy.

I guess I'm wondering when we were closest to having a representative democracy in the United States. I'm honestly not sure.

u/raziphel · 1 pointr/StLouis

You should read The People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn as a place to start.

https://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States/dp/0060838655

u/dividezero · 1 pointr/HighQualityGifs

people will have their problems with these but they are good additions or jumping off points for further research.

A People's History of the World

A People's History of the US - I don't remember if this book talks about Latin American relations specifically but it would be hard to tell this story without at least talking about it tangentially.

(i thought there was one for latin america but I'm not finding one in that series but if there is one, pick that up)

and of course pretty much anything by Chomsky, especially:

Manufacturing Consent

Caution: this is not only a long book but a DENSE one as well. Noam is not known as a storyteller. This book is no different. Every sentence is packed with gravity. It's looking specifically at the media's relationship with the US's relationship with Latin America but that's a good lens to go at that field of study.

In most of his work he focuses a lot on the Monroe Doctrine and its aftermath so you can pick up almost any of his work and you'll get some of it. Especially the earlier stuff.

u/m4n715 · 1 pointr/IAmA

I appreciate your desire to find the good in this person, but seriously, do yourself a favor and read Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. You'll be appalled.

We don't celebrate Genghis Khan, Caesar, or Alexander the way we do Columbus, because we're not blindly following some revisionist agenda and jingoist bullshit. We should give up celebrating him too. We can celebrate the music of Mexico, the food of Italy, the poetry of Chile, the dancing of Brazil and the books of the United States without bringing his name up.


u/Don_Butter_Me_Knots · 1 pointr/news

Read this
http://www.amazon.com/A-Peoples-History-United-States/dp/0060838655
Zinn should be a hero to all of us.

u/Apoplecticmiscreant · 1 pointr/conspiracy

Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States.. Someone told me his views on 9/11 were more than a little disappointing though.

That is, for US history anyway.

u/choochichoo · 1 pointr/politics

Have you ever read A People's History of The United States? I doubt you have considering your stereotype assessment of unions and lack of understanding of their place in our society.

So you think mountaintop removal is "sane"? Do you even understand what that entails? Do you understand how utterly destructive mountaintop removal is? Have you researched it at all? Your reply did not answer my original question.

u/IterationInspiration · 1 pointr/politics

Ok, here is the citation for my claim.

http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States-Present/dp/0060838655

Prove me wrong.

u/Bakeshot · 0 pointsr/pics

A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present by the late Howard Zinn.

I doubt the guy even read it. It's a pretty popular book to reference to EDUCATE ALL THE SHEEPLE ABOUT THE REAL HISTORY OF THEIR COUNTRY... but in reality, these references are made by people who either have only heard about it, seen controversial snip-its, or don't understand its larger narrative.

u/tau-lepton · 0 pointsr/politics

http://www.amazon.com/A-Peoples-History-United-States/dp/0060838655 A good start to actually learning the history of the US

u/M0nthu · 0 pointsr/history

My favorite is Howard Zinn's A people's history of the United States . It is concise and to the point.

u/Eureka22 · -1 pointsr/USHistory

A People's History of the United States - Howard Zinn

Also

History of the United States - The Teaching Company

*On a side note, I would say that The United States isn't truly remarkable compared to other countries. We were fortunate to have the combination of enlightenment thinkers establishing a secular republic combined with virtually unlimited natural resources and land for expansion without the need for war with other industrialized powers. Any other nation with such resources may have had equal success.

u/quaxon · -3 pointsr/BigBrother

> I think it's pretty horrendous to be so disrespectful about the people who die for our freedom

If you think those people died for the freedom of black (or Latino, I can't tell what Jozea is, but same point), gay people then you need to open a history book, I'd recommenced this one.

>especially right in front of James who had served in the military for 6 years.

In a totally unjust and offensive war that has left millions of civilians dead, thousands more tortured, and entire countries completely destroyed while we continue to actually lose freedoms here. So yea, lets stop with this whole 'they fight for our freedoms' bullshit and stop demonizing those who aren't afraid to stand against this jingoist circlejerk.

u/Doomed · -4 pointsr/comics

>A note from the author:

>All of the information in this essay came from A People's History of the United States, by Howard Zinn, and Lies My Teacher Told Me, by James W. Lowewen, both of which uses primary sources such eyewitness accounts, journal entries, and letters from Christopher Columbus himself.

Affiliate links have been removed.

I could have told you this shit, and I wouldn't have asked for any advertising revenue in return. But because I didn't dig up a cutesy font, you guys would never read it.

u/friesandgravyacct · -6 pointsr/vancouver

> I fact I'm going to go on record here in saying that China's economy and business ethics are BASED on unscrupulous practices

That's a rather harsh way of putting it. They have a culturally different opinion on adherence to laws and internationally accepted norms, but so did the the USA as it was forming.

u/wiking85 · -7 pointsr/HistoryPorn

http://www.amazon.com/The-Untold-History-United-States/dp/1451613520/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1394721705&sr=8-2&keywords=untold+history+of+the+united+states+oliver+stone
http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States-Present/dp/0060838655

Both demonstrate that the US knew the Japanese were discussing surrender thanks to signals intercepts before the Atom Bombs were dropped. The Soviet entry that crushed their army in mainland Asia forced them to the table, they were working out the particulars, so we jumped in to try out our new, very expensive bombs before the Japanese could get out of the war.

u/RevolutionReadyGo · -39 pointsr/Health

There was no disease before we domesticated draft animals. Educate yourself from all sides before entering the debate, please.

Edit for sources:

First I just want to say that their is no "source" for the history of the First Nations. We've spent hundreds of years erasing every trace of their culture and history from our collective memories. So either you make a commitment to go educate yourself about how these people lived, and see firsthand that they lacked most major diseases, which tied into their susceptibility to smallpox and co and therefore the genocide, or you believe the hype. Sorry but I am under no burden whatsoever to educate you about these people's lifestyles.

With that said, if you insist on some sources, here's some good reading material:

Guns, Germs and Steel

Omnivore's Delima

A People's History of the United States of America