In 1980, the historian Howard Zinn published A People's History of the United States, a narrative that centers on everyday people's lives. It is a history from the bottom up, a history from below, that has inspired numerous tomes on People's history themes, while also being banned from curriculums. — Read the rest

The Arkansas legislature is considering a bill that would prohibit "any books or other material authored by or concerning Howard Zinn" in its schools, on the grounds that Howard Zinn says means things about America, like, "It has the kinds of censoring, undemocratic state governments that ban all books by and discussions of critics of America and its actions."

The Tank Riot podcast crew do a great job this week on the subject of the late and very lamented historian and writer Howard Zinn, one of my heroes. Lots of good context and trivia, and a real pulling-together of the diverse narrative that was Zinn's life.

Howard Zinn, radical historian, professor, and author, has died. He was 87.
Boston Globe obituary (Thanks, Gil Kaufman)

Howard Zinn's A People's History of American Empire is a fantastic comic-book adaptation of Zinn's classic A People's History of the United States (the best and most important critical history of the life of everyday people in America from 1492 onward), a new edition illustrated by Mike Konopacki and aided by historian Paul Buhle. — Read the rest

Engaged scholar, labor lawyer, protagonist in history, collaborator and comrade, an inspiration for his embrace of solidarity as a necessary affect of political engagement, Staughton Lynd passed at 92, on Thursday, November 17, 2022, in Warren, Ohio.

A radical during the Cold War, generationally in between and therefore overlap between the Old Left and the New Left. — Read the rest

What is capitalism? What is a corporation? What is the relationship between one's desires for consumption, capitalist notions of the individual self, and the power of corporations? The following documentaries help answer these and other questions about how capitalism limits democracy, and how psychoanalysis has impacted consumption and the notion of the social. — Read the rest

Early this month, the US Office of Management and Budget announced a crackdown on diversity trainings and other similar initiatives that acknowledged the existence of racism or privilege. The concept of "Critical Race Theory" was a particular target — despite the fact that, ya know, the First Amendment is supposed to prevent the government from suppressing ideas or punishing people for having ideas. — Read the rest

Open Culture and Class Central compiled a list of thousands of enticing free MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and lectures from top-shelf educators at great universities like MIT, Stanford, and Harvard.

San Francisco: It's time again for the always-outstanding annual Kronos Festival, several days of fantastic global and experimental music curated by the seminal avant/classical/global Kronos Quartet. Every Kronos Festival I've attended has turned me on to a spectrum of new sounds, artists, scenes, and regions. — Read the rest

Jesse Brown is a pioneering podcaster whose Search Engine produced some of the best commentary on the intersection of the internet, pop culture and politics; when he struck out on his own to create a new podcasting empire, Canadaland (previously), he hit on a winning formula: analysing and critiquing Canadian politics by analysing and critiquing the Canadian press, with wit, irreverence and a sharp nose for bullshit -- all of which combine to excellent effect in the brand new Canadaland Guide to Canada (Published in America), co-written with Vicky Mochama and Nick Zarzycki.

One of Frederick Douglass's most famous speeches was his 1852 "The Meaning of July 4th for the Negro."

The latest of The Oatmeal makes a pretty compelling case for hating Christopher Columbus, whose achievements ("discovering" America, sailing from Europe to America, proving the curvature of the Earth) are all BS. More importantly, though, is what Columbus did do: launched a campaign of genocide in order to terrorize indigenous people gold-mining slavery, a program buoyed up by mass slaughter, mutilations, and systematic sexual slavery of girls as young as nine or ten. — Read the rest

After Army judge Colonel Denise Lind announced the 35-year sentence for Bradley Manning on Wednesday, defense attorney David Coombs read a statement from the soldier that will be part of a pardon request to be submitted to President Barack Obama. That statement follows, below. — Read the rest

One year ago today

Song of Mitt's Self: The real Mitt Romney stands up and reflects on who he is, what he believes and why he is running for office.

Five years ago today

Howard Zinn's "A People's History of American Empire" graphic novel: A new edition illustrated by Mike Konopacki and aided by historian Paul Buhle. — Read the rest

Those with a moderate knowledge of this site (or, for that matter, who have spent any mount of time on its Wikipedia page) can tell you that Boing Boing
(nee bOING bOING) came into this world as a zine — "The World's Greatest Neurozine,” no less. — Read the rest

[Video Link] Sounds like this documentary explores the same kind of mass psychological manipulation that Freud's nephew, Edward Bernays invented to convince Americans that it was a good idea to get involved in World War One, as well as convince women that they'd become socially powerful if they smoked cigarettes. — Read the rest

The Campaign to Legalize Democracy is circulating a petition in response to yesterday's ruling that legalized unlimited political bribery by corporations in the USA. Signatories include Bill Moyer, Howard Zinn, Jim Hightower, Billl McKibben, and Tom Hayden.

We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S.

Here's part five of the Boing Boing Holiday Gift Guide, a roundup of the bestselling items from this year's Boing Boing reviews. Today's installment is nonfiction books.

Don't miss the rest of the posts: kids' stuff, fiction, gadgets and comics. — Read the rest

Here's part four of our week-long "Best of Boing Boing" holiday gift guide: basically, it's a list of the bestselling items from among the stuff we reviewed this year, reflecting your favorite items from among our picks. Today's list is comics, graphic novels, funnybooks and the like. — Read the rest