Listening to Howard Zinn

I listened to an excellent interview with Howard Zinn on Democracy Now, the War and Peace Report radio show yesterday, and it brought me this insight: The only use for (and reason for the existence of) official history is to establish the legitimacy of the ownership of power and property. That's why after every major revolution, the history books are rewritten. That's also why we don't seem to learn from history-- because that's just not what it's for.

Now this may seem somewhat cynical, but I don't believe it is. It's more a call to be vigilant and skeptical (never bad advice), and it gives a context in which to analyze what the historians tell us. Every story about people can have half a dozen interpretations. When "history tells us" something, think about who benefits from that interpretation. I believe this can be enlightening.

Here's the interview-- it's slightly long, but it's worth the effort.