Episode 91: Howard Zinn's War on History with Mary Grabar and Jarrett Stepman

There is no historian like Howard Zinn.

Certainly no other history book has taken the place of the Bible at the swearing-in of an elected official . But in 2019, Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History” was the sacred object on which newly elected Oklahoma City council member JoBeth Hamon chose to place her hand for her oath of office .

“For one of the great enemies of the American idea, Howard Zinn, our history is “a story of defeat, despair, and domination … a tragedy in three acts: what we did to the Indians, what we did to the African-Americans, and what we did to everyone else,” explains my guest Dr. Mary Grabar the author of “Debunking Howard Zinn: Exposing the Fake History That Turned a Generation against America”

Because of Zinn and other historians like him, American schools have largely stopped teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the history of the world.

“An all-important question has opened up a great chasm between Americans: Is the essence of our civilization—our culture, our mores, our history—fundamentally good and worth preserving, or is it rotten at its root?” says my other Guest Jarrett Stepman the author of “The War on History: The Conspiracy to Rewrite America's Past”.

Zinn’s rhetorical strategies are more than “radical.” They are fundamentally and grossly dishonest. Yet when Purdue University president Mitch Daniels sought to eliminate Zinn’s book from classrooms, he was roundly excoriated.

“Zinn’s conception of American elites” such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton “is akin to the medieval church’s image of the Devil.”

The College Board, which is largely replacing states and localities as the shaper of both textbooks and teacher training promotes Zinn’s version of history in its advanced placement training seminars.

Join me as I learn from Mary and Jarrett about some of the root causes why America is being torn apart by radical ideologies that have entered the mainstream of America’s schools.

#Howard Zinn