Passionate Declarations: Essays on War and Justice

“A shotgun blast of revisionism that aims to shatter all the comfortable myths of American political discourse.” — Los Angeles Times

From the bestselling author of A People's History of the United States comes this selection of passionate, honest, and piercing essays looking at American political ideology.

Howard Zinn brings to Passionate Declarations the same astringent style and provocative point of view that led more than a million people to buy his book A People's History of the United States. He directs his critique here to what he calls "American orthodoxies" —that set of beliefs guardians of our culture consider sacrosanct: justifications for war, cynicism about human nature and violence, pride in our economic system, certainty of our freedom of speech, romanticization of representative government, confidence in our system of justice. Those orthodoxies, he believes, have a chilling effect on our capacity to think independently and to become active citizens in the long struggle for peace and justice.

In these landmark essays, Zinn confronts these foundational beliefs head-on:

• Just and Unjust War: A provocative re-examination of warfare itself, questioning whether any war—even the 'good war' against fascism—can truly be called just in the modern era.
• U.S. Foreign Policy: A sharp critique of Machiavellian 'realism' and the deceptions used to justify American military interventions around the globe.
• The American Class System: An unsparing look at economic justice in the United States, exposing the myth of 'rugged individualism' and the long history of government aid for the rich.
• Civil Disobedience: A powerful argument for why true democracy requires citizens to go beyond the law and engage in direct action, from the abolitionists to the anti-war movement.

From the bestselling author of A People's History of the United States comes this selection of passionate, honest, and piercing essays looking at American political ideology.

Howard Zinn brings to Passionate Declarations the same astringent style and provocative point of view that led more than a million people to buy his book A People's History of the United States. He directs his critique here to what he calls "American orthodoxies" -- that set of beliefs guardians of our culture consider sacrosanct: justifications for war, cynicism about human nature and violence, pride in our economic system, certainty of our freedom of speech, romanticization of representative government, confidence in our system of justice. Those orthodoxies, he believes, have a chilling effect on our capacity to think independently and to become active citizens in the long struggle for peace and justice.

“A shotgun blast of revisionism that aims to shatter all the comfortable myths of American political discourse.” - Los Angeles Times

“An unabashedly subjective challenge to American orothodox beliefs.” - Kirkus Reviews

“Zinn’s ambitious goal is not only to identify a dominant pattern of American ideas but to determine the soundness of that American ideology by putting the individual axioms on trial....A timely and important wake-up call to Americans who slumber in the netherworld of ideology.” - In These Times

“It has been Zinn’s life work to illuminate the subjectivities others have ignored....It joins his pioneering...A People’s History of the United States to form what could be called the essential Zinn.” - Boston Phoenix

“In these informal, challenging essays that link the personal to the political, Zinn aims to shake complacency, to challenge what he calls ‘American orthodoxies’ or recieved opinions about history and government.” - Publishers Weekly