Arundhati Roy w/ Howard Zinn: Come September (2002)

Ms. Roy and Howard Zinn in conversation

Lensic Performing Arts Center

Santa Fe, New Mexico

18 September 2002

Arundhati Roy, author of Booker Prize winning novel The God of Small Things offers her unique perspective on the U.S. "war on terrorism" as a woman born, raised, and educated in India.

With lyricism and passion, Roy contextualizes the recent invasion of Iraq with her unflinching analysis of U.S.-sponsored interventions around the globe as well as her exploration of "you're either with us or with the terrorists" brand of nationalism.

"Come September" features an introduction by historian Howard Zinn. Zinn also joins Roy later on the cd for a riveting discussion on the writing process and the politics of being an artist in today's tumultuous times.


Transcript: http://nmazca.com/verba/roy.htm

Howard Zinn: War & Civil Disobedience (2010)

What are citizens to do when confronted by unjust laws and when their government embroils them in unjust wars? Delivered in the context of the current U.S. war in Iraq, this recording is a scintillating lecture and discussion by the legendary teacher, historian, playwright and activist. Howard Zinn offers from the lens of history, models, ideas and inspiration for how and why we might go about challenging and changing the structures of power, the necessity of civil disobedience for a functioning democracy, and its centrality to social movements.

Howard Zinn: The Case Of Sacco & Vanzetti (2008)

Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were two Italian-born immigrants, workers, and anarchists, who were tried and convicted in 1921 for the armed robbery and murder of two payroll guards. After 7 years of legal appeals and international protest, the two men were executed on August 23, 1927 in Boston for a crime that many felt they did not commit and by a judicial system that was patently biased and unjust.

On November 7, 2008, Howard Zinn offered a lecture on “The Meaning of Sacco and Vanzetti” at the Dante Alighieri Society Italian Cultural Center, in Cambridge, MA. In his lecture Howard Zinn indicated the relevance of the Sacco and Vanzetti case for America today. Nearly 250 people attended the event, sponsored by the Sacco & Vanzetti Commemoration Society (SVCS) and hosted by the Dante Alighieri Society.

Howard Zinn: Class & War In US Society - A Critique (2004)

In 70 minutes of lecture and Q & A, Zinn starts with a brief description of his own personal history, and uses these accounts to set the foundation for analyzing important current issues. He addresses such topics as the class-based society in the US and whose interests it benefits. He criticizes the recent war and subsequent occupation of Iraq and illustrates how it compares to other imperial US occupations over the last century.

Howard Zinn: Artists In A Time Of War (2001)

Recorded at Massachusetts College Of Art, Boston, Massachusetts, October 10, 2001.

The author of The People's History of the United States, historian Howard Zinn has picked a thought-provoking subject for this spoken word CD of a lecture he gave at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston on October 10, 2001. In the wake of September 11 and America's military response to it, he discusses the artist's role in wartime. He sticks to this subject throughout his lecture and is never less than eloquent. He reads marvelous selections of the antiwar writings of Langston Hughes, Mark Twain, and many others. He gives Joseph Heller's Catch 22 and Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five as examples of sly antiwar statements that came out after World War II, "the good war," but which were able to criticize aspects of America's involvement in that war and war in general because they were works of fiction. He talks about all the artists who refused invitations to the White House during the Vietnam War, including singer Eartha Kitt and playwright Arthur Miller. Near the end of his lecture, Zinn makes it clear that he is against all war. He believes the rotten nature of war would corrupt even a worthy cause and that fighting violence with violence is the wrong response to an act of terrorism like September 11. He says that it is artists' patriotic duty to speak up at times when it's not popular to voice dissent against the government and its policies. Whether the listener agrees or not with his against-all-wars stance, nobody could say that Zinn doesn't put forth very persuasive arguments and exceptional, substantive examples to back up all of his ideas. 
~ Adam Bregman

Howard Zinn: Stories Hollywood Never Tells (2001)

What sort of view of our history do we get from Hollywood movies? Why are some stories told and others not? Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States helped to enlarge our sense of history to include the stories of women, minorities, labor struggles, and others forgotten or removed from official histories. In this informal talk given at the Taos Film Festival, Zinn turns his attention to Hollywood, the stories it tells, and the ones it doesn't. He tells the stories of wars from the point of view of disillusioned deserters, of the differences between All Quiet on the Western Front and Saving Private Ryan, of railroad strikes and the Haymarket Affait, Eugene Debs and the real story of Helen Keller, socialist and anti-war agitator. Mother Jones leads a march of 11 and 12-year-old textile workers from Pennsylvania to Roosevelt's vacation home in Oyster Bay to demand better working conditions in the textile mills then at age 85 is thrown in jail for leading the Colorado Coal strike of 1913–14. A spellbinding and provocative talk by America's most beloved historian.

Howard Zinn: Heroes & Martyrs - Emma Goldman, Sacco & Vanzetti & The Revolutionary Struggle (2001)

Howard Zinn takes us back to a newly industrialized America, the time of rubber barons, tenements bursting with immigrants, and dramatic labor struggles. Zinn’s colorful cast includes Vanderbilt and Carnegie, the young J. Edgar Hoover, and George Bernard Shaw, Ben Reitman, the king of the hobos; Sacco and Vanzetti, whose arrest and execution produced storms of protest around the world, and Emma Goldman, feminist, anarchist, propagandist extraordinaire.

Howard Zinn: A People's History Of The United States (1998)

A People's History of the United States: A Lecture at Reed College

A scintillating lecture and discussion by the legendary teacher, historian and activist. Here Zinn explains with great humor and passion how his teaching, his history and his activism are grounded in the stories of social movements-labor, civil rights, feminists, anti-war-which are usually left out or grossly distorted in mainstream history writing.