Zin essay

But Zinn did not do real history—that is, scholarship that builds on the work of previous historians, gives accurate and detailed information, and presents a balanced view. A People’s History, like the 1619 Project, drew criticism from historians on the left and right.

In writing Debunking Howard Zinn, I read many of Zinn’s sources and found egregious plagiarism (usually from New Left historians and socialist non-historians, like Hans Koning), deletion of critical information, deliberate misrepresentation of sources, and invention of facts. Zinn used his status as a professor to discredit other historians.

Both Zinn and Foster trace every bloody event—Indian massacres, slavery, wars, riots, factory fires—to capitalism. The simplistic explanation captivates readers.

The deeply flawed 1619 Project is clearly Zinn’s intellectual progeny and heir, part of the same frenzied effort to delegitimize the moral foundations of the American Republic. This essay is part of RealClearPublicAffairs's 1776 Series, which explains the major themes that define the American mind.