Besides The 5,000 Year Leap another great book to read is A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn.  This is a great book on the history of our country.

Please don’t take this as an insult, but you might want to take a closer look at Howard Zinn before you recommend him or his writings. Howard Zinn was a Marxist who promoted socialism and the indoctrination of our children.

This is a quote from him that he made just last year:

“Let’s talk about socialism. I think it’s very important to bring back the idea of socialism into the national discussion to where it was at the turn of the [last] century before the Soviet Union gave it a bad name. Socialism had a good name in this country. Socialism had Eugene Debs. It had Clarence Darrow. It had Mother Jones. It had Emma Goldman. It had several million people reading socialist newspapers around the country. Socialism basically said, hey, let’s have a kinder, gentler society. Let’s share things. Let’s have an economic system that produces things not because they’re profitable for some corporation, but produces things that people need. People should not be retreating from the word socialism because you have to go beyond capitalism.”

Here is an article by Ben Shapiro over at Big Hollywood that reveals quite a bit about the late Howard Zinn.

Parrish Miller

Howard Zinn is NOT a socialist.  He’s dead.  LOL!  Nevertheless, don’t believe everything you “google.”  As his biography says, “Howard Zinn is a historian, playwright, and social activist.”  “A social activist.”  I am a social activist.  Does that make me a socialist?  No!  He did espouse principles of worker unity against slave labor that may be “labeled” as socialistic, but that is not necessarily so; and, his outcry was for “power to the people,” but so was John Lennon’s. 
Howard spoke, as do we today, of “the spirit of resistance to illegitimate authority.”  He was not espousing a democratic or socialist “government” per se, but he encouraged the unity of the people rising up against all forms of oppression, especially by predatory mega corporations and corporate governments; and, he shows, brilliantly, how their corporate welfare and slavery was defended, violently, by the government and by local and national law enforcement!
If Howard wanted a democratic but socialist government in the United States then that would be where we parted ways.  Socialist Democracy is the vilest form of government.  It is mob rule and nothing more.  If there is hope for a “hybrid” government with a republican form that preserves ALL of the political power in the people, as the Idaho Constitution states, (ARTICLE 1, SECTION 2.POLITICAL POWER INHERENT IN THE PEOPLE. All political power is inherent in the people),and as Article the tenth of the Bill of Rights states, (The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people), then I’m all for it.  Some, in fact, have called our system a “Democratic Republic.”  However, we have allowed the perversion of our democratic-republican form into more of a democracy and as a result we have lost the power with which we were invested by the founders.  See the 17th amendment which “democratized” the Constitution.
Furthermore, his perceived politics notwithstanding, my admonition was strictly concerning his People’s History book, not his politics.  You should look at it with an open mind from a perspective of objectivity.  Moreover, as a general principle, one should not dismiss the thoughts, ideas and historical research of another in a closed-minded manner simply because of their political, financial, religious or other leanings.  We would miss an awful lot of great stuff if we did. 
We can never all agree on everything and that is the beauty of the tolerance of the republican form.  In a democracy, the majority abrogates the rights of the minority or of the individual; in a republic, the majority must uphold the rights of the minority or of the individual.  In a republican society of 300 million, 299,999,999 people who agree must allow the 1 who disagrees to do things his or her own way with impunity.
Howard explores the true meaning of the Constitution and why and for whom it was written—as a document for the aristocratic merchants in commerce!  He shines the bright light of Truth on the tyrannical, militaristic, imperial nature of and the brutal acts of the US GOVT against many peoples throughout history, all of which is contrary to our erstwhile outward appearance and false claim to a philosophy of freedom, equality and human rights; and, he does so with indisputable facts, documented evidence and bona fide, accurate, undeniable historical accounts that were conveniently excluded from our history textbooks and curriculum in the Public Fool system. 
Here is how he spoke about himself:

In one of his last interviews he said he’d like to be remembered “for introducing a different way of thinking about the world, about war, about human rights, about equality,” and “for getting more people to realize that the power which rests so far in the hands of people with wealth and guns, that the power ultimately rests in people themselves and that they can use it. At certain points in history, they have used it. Black people in the South used it. People in the women’s movement used it. People in the anti-war movement used it. People in other countries who have overthrown tyrannies have used it.”
He said he wanted to be known as “somebody who gave people a feeling of hope and power that they didn’t have before.”
He certainly seems to support the proposition of the power, right and DUTY of the people to “alter or abolish” any form of government that has become destructive of the beneficent ends of its institution—which is to secure the rights of the people. 
The political power mongers of the United States of America are, and have always been, usurpers of our rights and the ultimate hypocrites who are nothing more than American Conquistadors.  It has ALWAYS been about conquest; and, they have “rewritten” American History as propaganda to suit their agenda; Howard merely “wrote” it as it truly is.  So read and learn.

Thank you, witherrite, for your opinions and insights into the book. I’m afraid I must respectfully disagree with your opinion, however. Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States was written with the goal of indoctrinating Americans with the idea that America is ‘evil’ rather than that America is ‘good.’ He slanders our Founding Fathers to the point where you apparently believe that Constitution - the greatest document in World history - was written “as a document for the aristocratic merchants in commerce.” Nothing could be farther from the truth. Our Constitution was written as a document for all people, and reading The Federalist Papers helps one see that.

Howard Zinn seems to believe there is no such thing as a just war. He critiques every American Military action in history, criticizing it and accusing America of imperialism and often worse. He even implies America was no better than Nazi Germany.

“However, blacks, looking at anti-Semitism in Germany, might not see their own situation in the U.S. as much different.” ~ A People’s History of the United States

If one looks at what was happening in Nazi Germany and finds a parallel in 1940s America, ones perception is obviously distorted!

He sees everything in terms of America being aggressive and evil. Take this quote for example:

“It [The United States] had pretended to help Cuba win freedom from Spain, and then planted itself in Cuba with a military base, investments, and rights of intervention. It had seized Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and fought a brutal war to subjugate the Filipinos. It had ‘opened’ Japan to its trade with gunboats and threats. It had declared an Open Door Policy in China as a means of assuring that the United States would have opportunities equal to other imperial powers in exploiting China.” ~ A People’s History of the United States”

Rather than pointing out the vast benefits that Cuba, Hawaii, Japan, and China saw from foreign involvement and technological advancement, he focuses only on his spin - America is bad!

He doesn’t even pretend his work is a complete and accurate history. As Howard Zinn himself said about his book:

“I wanted my writing of history and my teaching of history to be a part of the social struggle. I wanted to be a part of history and not just a recorder and teacher of history. So that kind of attitude towards history, history itself is a political act, has always informed my writing and my teaching.”

Demonizing America and attempting to rewrite history to make her the bad guy in every altercation and interaction may be a popular narrative for Hollywood, but it does not stand up to historical scrutiny. In almost all cases, when the US becomes involved with another Nation - be it through war or otherwise - we always leave it with a better infrastructure, greater freedom, and greater opportunity than it had before.

You say Howard proves his points “with indisputable facts, documented evidence and bona fide, accurate, undeniable historical accounts.” Yet most of what A People’s History of the United States does however, is to ascribe evil and villainous motives to America and to her leaders. If America is and always has been evil, what are we fighting for? I believe in our Country, and I believe that restoring existing Constitutional freedoms to American citizens is the answer to our current problems. I do not see how retelling American History in a way which casts our Nation as the villain is beneficial.

Parrish Miller

Parrish, I respect your opinion.  The freedom of speech is important.

The 5000 year leap is a great fundamental book on what our founders believed and based this country on.. We have to learn what it is to be an American to know where we are going.