A people's history of the United States by Howard Zinn - Book Report/Review Example

Chapter 6: The Intimately Oppressed The of this chapter is “The Intimately oppressed”. In this chapter the writer revisits the subjugation of women in American history by men. From the start of the chapter Zinn, shows under which circumstance women were totally left out in the formation and development of the United States. Every other worker who participated in any field from: landholders, merchants, politicians, explorers were all men and no woman ever had a concise and clear role or duty to play. Most people look at the oppressed on the basis of race and ethnicity; however women were a totally neglected group in this country. To bring this issue clearly to focus Zinn gives it a lot of weight by choosing such a title for it. The discrimination against women was largely propagated by the society which placed a lot of importance to men. Women were just a convenience for men and forbearing and bringing up children. As Zinn describes in this chapter women played a major role in America which went unnoticed by the society. All the society did to pay the woman back was to, exploit, restrict and be stewards of the children she would bear together with the man. Issues of women such as, reproductive health, women empowerment and freedom of conscience were highly neglected (Zinn 94-114). Zinn describes the previous role women played before colonization by Europeans. Previously Indian tribes lived in groups of communities whereby all; male and female, old and young owned everything communally. Later with the coming of Europeans to America the concept of property ownership was introduced, whereby most owners were men leaving women out of the equation. The manner in which white settlers came to America contributed in marginalizing women. Early settlements were previously of men whereas women were literally imported for sex, companionship and childbearing. This factor made it hard for women for a very long period in the history of America to reclaim their respect and roles in the society. Religion also played a major part in discriminating women (Greenberg 2013; Zinn 94-114). After clearly showing how women were marginalized, Zinn narrates vividly various illustrations in American societies where women were second class citizens only rivaled by slaves. Not only did the society discriminate them but even their own families Chapter 7: As long as grass grows or water Runs. In this chapter Zinn explores the relationship between the American Indians and the whites. During the colonization of the country, Indians were disowned large tracts of land by the white settlers and the government. Europeans did not only seize their lands, but they also took Indian women as captives and desecrated the land according to Indian customs. The land seizures at times would turn ugly and a lot of Indians would be murdered. Europeans also enforced their “civilization” on the Indians without taking much interest in Indian pre-existent customs and culture (Zinn 115-122). From the presidency of Thomas Jefferson, onwards the expansionist policy was rife in American politics. The land to the west of the original 13 states of the United States was largely held by Indians. The American governments used harsh and unscrupulous methods to acquire these lands. Some, like Andrew Jackson made their reputation and legacy through Indian land acquisition. The title of this seventh chapter captures the manner of sheer brutality and deception that the United States under its esteemed government disowned and subordinated the Indians in their own land. “As long as the grass grows or water runs” is a famous saying by Andrew Jackson to an army major he had sent to seize land from the Indians (Williams & Zinn 132). Here Jackson sent his major to promise the Indians that if they accepted to be subject of the United States law they would own their land as long as the” grass grow and the water run”. This was all but a lie in a ploy to deceive the Indians off their land without any compensation or recognition. Zinn uses the phrase as the title of the chapter to encompass the general manner in which White settlers expanded the country westwards (Mike et al 12-22) Chapter 8: We take nothing by conquest thank god. In this chapter Zinn describes the Mexican war of the 1840’s. The war eventually led to the acquisition of states such as, California, New Mexico and Nevada from Mexico. “We take nothing by conquest thank god” was a remark written by the Whig Intelligencer. The newspaper wrote that when half of Mexico was taken by a payment of about $15 million. This phrase is rather an irony of what really took place. From the evidence presented by Zinn from various sources containing details of the war, this was an irresponsible and grave remark with reference to what actually took place (Zinn 136-153). From the start the Mexican war that led to the loss of half of Mexican territory it was a United States plan. The war took place at the height of expansionism in America. An expansionist, James .K. Polk had risen to the office of the president in the 1840’s. Allegedly he had confided to his aide on the eve of his inauguration that his main goal was to expand America far west into Mexican territory. The president executed his plan by positioning a highly ranked general (future president, Zachary Taylor) near the border with Mexico so that Mexicans could become enraged and eventually lead to a much needed war (Zinn 140-142). As expected the Mexicans reacted by firing on American forces. The war that resulted from this was excessively bloody and brutal as vividly described by Zinn. Scores of men on both sides died, women were raped and a lot of property destroyed. When the war ended with a defeat of Mexico, the United States paid Mexico $ 15 million for half its territory. Zinn uses the remark by Whig Intelligencer to bring to attention the ignorance which Americans have on the Mexican war (Chomsky et al 54-60). Chapter 9: Slavery without submission, Emancipation without Freedom. In this chapter Zinn captures slavery at its highest level in America. This cleverly crafted phrase by civil rights agitators encompasses the truth behind slavery. Slaves were enslaved most of them against their will, but when they were finally emancipated after the civil war they remained without the rights and freedoms of other citizens (Williams et al 94). Zinn describes slavery vividly mostly with sources of slaves and former slaves. In the chapter he shows how slavery was allegedly made profitable by slaveholders. Although the book is about the history of the United States, Zinn doesn’t revisit the truth on how slaves were obtained from their homes. However, Zinn writes about the evils that were committed against the slaves. The whippings, punishments, hangings, separation of families and much more evil committed against slaves. Zinn also shows how religion was used to justify and compel slaves to submit unwillingly to their masters (Zinn 154-163). Later after many years of struggle and suffering, the civil war defeat of the south necessitated the emancipation of slaves. However due to torrential racism in America, whites were not prepared to accept their equality to blacks. This meant that freed slaves remained at the bottom of the ladder in the society hence the phrase, “emancipation without freedom”. Chapter 10: The Other Civil War The title of this chapter attempts to equate the anti-rent movement to the civil war. Primarily the anti-rent movement was a conflict mainly between farmers and landowners. Poor farmers were against the taking of their lands by their landlords citing their poor status. This was the period that the United States faced a disastrous land crisis (Lilley 2013) The impoverished lower class of farmers was against what they termed as persecution by the landowners and the government. People rose up against any form of paying rent and a collective group teamed up to support each other in the case one of them was confronted by the authorities for not paying rent. The crisis amounted to nearly a conflict between the classes (Joyce 63-67). Courtroom battles were fought by both sides of the opposite sides of the conflict. Sheriffs and landowners were killed when they went to issue writs to tenants who exceeded their lease terms. At around this time the economy had depreciated in growth making the landowners and tenants economically malnourished. In some states such as Rhode Island the crisis became an ideological political one even forcing the then governor to flee the state (Frank et al 43-51) Zinn uses the term, “The other civil war” to signify the magnitude the conflict generated both at various state levels and at the national stage (Chomsky et al 54-60). Works cited Chomsky N. Et. Al. (2003).The Cold War & the University: Toward an Intellectual History of the Postwar Years. New York. Prentice Hall. Frank D. Kelley R. & Zinn H. (2002), Three Strikes: Miners, Musicians, Salesgirls, and the Fighting Spirit of Labor's Last Century. New York. Seven stories press. Greenberg, D. (2013). Agit-Prof: Howard Zinn's influential mutilations of American history. The New Republic March 19, 2013http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112574/howard Joyce, D. (2003) Howard Zinn: A Radical American Vision. Amherst. Prometheus Books. Lilley S. (2009) Howard Zinn on Marxism, Anarchism, and the Paris Commune.,. Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbaizDSg1YU. Retrieved on 19th, march 2013. Williams, D. & Zinn, H. (2005). A People's History of the Civil War: Struggles for the Meaning of Freedom by (Series Editor). Zinn, H(2005). Voices of a People's History of the United States. New York. Seven Stories Press. Zinn, H., Mike, K. & Buhle, P. (2008). A People's History of American Empire. New York. Simon & Schuster. Zinn, H. (1980). People’s history of the US: (1492-present). New York. HarperCollins. Read More