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Saying you're looking for a critical alternative sounds strange to this American. Here, that book is the critical alternative. It's the counterpoint to all the toxic conservative propaganda we're spoonfed daily. Propaganda that tells us that straight, white, Christian, American men are not only the saviors of democracy, but also the Universe, that God, guns, and money will save us all. That book tells the stories we're taught to deny. If it doesn't convince you, it's because it goes against everything America wants you to believe. If you're just looking to be mad, turn on Fox News. They'll tell you plenty of things that are "wrong" with America.

That is the book that is very critical and severe toward the United States. I think the problem is that that book was written as a counterpoint to the history of the United States we learn in secondary school. If you haven’t learned U.S. history from a U.S. high school history textbook, it is going to feel unbalanced, prejudiced, because you are not the target audience, who has grown up with an uncritical, unbalanced, prejudiced but in the other way, curriculum. I would imagine a book by a European scholar of U.S. history would have more potential to give a neutral outside but critical point of view.

If I recall correctly (and it's been over a decade since I read that one), Zinn is quite clear from the onset about his stance. (Even the title makes it evident that his perspective isn't going to follow the traditional USA history narrative.) He sustains his points with empirical evidence, so I would hesitate to call it prejudiced. But there are some issues with some of his sources. (I think Matthew Restall may address some of those.)

How about trying out James Loewen's Lies My Teachers Told Me? That book explains what I think Zinn was attempting to problematize: the blind acceptance of the biases within historical texts. Loewen aims directly at the USA secondary educational system in particular. You will learn a lot about USA history and why it has been written from a specific angle.

If you're not opposed to looking in on a Reddit thread, askhistorians hsa it pop up now and again. They have "flaired users," who, with few exceptions tend to be credentialed academics, typically younger Masters degree holders and/or PhD candidates (best I can tell), and with no love for the American right. Their general consensus is that the book is not "wrong," but it lacks context and is not very useful as history, and particularly not as someone's introduction to American history.

Hello,

Maybe a question to crosspost to !history@mander.xyz too!

im an american and had never heard of this book before so i had to look it up. it seems extremely impressive that someone would undertake such a breadth of american experiences through its entire history. however, i also saw a lot of criticism that matches what you described. ill give you the same advice id give anyone studying any history: no book is perfect. if you really want to know as much as you can, you'll have to read a ton of books from a ton of different sources. plenty of people love criticizing america, its very easy to do, but most authors wont try to write with such the breadth that this guy has, due to it often including bias and poor sources. its an easy thing to do poorly. if you want a factual overview of american history, id go for a textbook. you can then deep dive into anything that interests you. if you are interested in varying perspectives, there are plenty of african american, native american, feminist, etc. books. you can look up plenty of different book lists online. just look up the author/book before you leave, as there are plenty of frauds. hope that helps! whats gotten you interested in american history?

Maybe it would help if you gave examples?

Yes, you are right. But it seemed very quiet there.

I do care aboutwhat is almost true. One gathers the facts and in the end gives an interpretation