As some of my followers know, I profoundly love the United States of America. However, I do believe that the basic presumption of the American Dream (equal opportunity for prosperity, success and upward social mobility) is a fallacy. Howard Zinn (1922-2010) was the man who convinced me with his wonderful work A People's History of The United States.
His book focusses on the lives and stories of native americans, slaves, women, laborers and draftees, most of whom never even got a shot at pursuing the American Dream.
The man was a brilliant historian, an idealist who believed in the responsibilities of the historian and the individual towards society.
Quote: "I want young people to understand that ours is a beautiful country, but it has been taken over by men who have no respect for human rights or constitutional liberties. Our people are basically decent and caring, and our highest ideals are expressed in the Declaration of Independence which says that all of us have an equal right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The history of our country, I point out in my book, is a striving, against corporate robber barons and war makers, to make those ideals a reality — and all of us, of whatever age, can find immense satisfaction in becoming part of that."
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