Zinn remembered
The ubiquitous AP obit of Howard Zinn can be read at the New York Times or the LA Times, but it barely scratches the surface of Zinn's life. Dave Zirin's piece "The Historian Who Made History" at The Nation praises Zinn's authenticity:
When he spoke against poverty it was from the perspective of someone who had to work in the shipyards during the Great Depression. When he spoke against war, it was from the perspective of someone who flew as a bombardier during World War II, and was forever changed by the experience. When he spoke against racism it was from the perspective of someone who taught at Spelman College during the civil rights movement and was arrested sitting in with his students.
Amy Goodman from Democracy Now! had a nice discussion with authors Anthony Arnove, Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, and Alice Walker about Zinn and his influence. Amid the reminiscences, Arnove commented that "Howard never rested. He had such an energy:"
And over the last few years, he continued to write, continued to speak, and he brought to life this history that he spoke about in that segment that you just aired. He wanted to bring a new generation of people into contact with the voices of dissent, the voices of protest, that they don't get in their school textbooks, that we don't get in our establishment media, and to remind them of the power of their own voice, remind them of the power of dissent, the power of protest.
Zinn's last published work may be a brief essay on Obama from The Nation, where he says of Obama, "I wasn't terribly disappointed because I didn't expect that much:"
I expected him to be a traditional Democratic president. On foreign policy, that's hardly any different from a Republican--as nationalist, expansionist, imperial and warlike. So in that sense, there's no expectation and no disappointment. On domestic policy, traditionally Democratic presidents are more reformist, closer to the labor movement, more willing to pass legislation on behalf of ordinary people--and that's been true of Obama. But Democratic reforms have also been limited, cautious. Obama's no exception.