Truth Has a Power of Its Own

Truth Has a Power of Its Own: Conversations about A People's History

Never before published, an extraordinarily inspiring and radical conversation between Howard Zinn and PBS/NPR journalist Ray Suarez, wherein American history is turned upside down published to coincide with the tenth anniversary of Zinn’s death
Truth Has a Power of Its Own is an engrossing collection of never-before-published conversations with Howard Zinn, conducted by the distinguished broadcast journalist Ray Suarez in 2007, that covers the course of American history from Columbus to the War on Terror from the perspective of ordinary people—including slaves, workers, immigrants, women, and Native Americans.
Viewed through the lens of Zinn’s own life as a soldier, historian, and activist and using his paradigm-shifting People’s History of the United States as a point of departure, these conversations explore the American Revolution, the Civil War, the labor battles of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, U.S. imperialism from the Indian Wars to the War on Terrorism, World Wars I and II, the Cold War, and the fight for equality and immigrant rights, all from an unapologetically radical standpoint. Admirers and a new generation of readers alike will be fascinated to learn about Zinn’s thought processes, rationale, motivations, and approach to his now-iconic historical work.
Suarez’s probing questions and Zinn’s humane (and often humorous) voice along with his keen moral vision shine through every one of these lively and thought-provoking conversations, showing that Zinn’s work is as relevant as ever.
"In 2007, the phone on my desk at the PBS NewsHour, where I was a senior correspondent, rang as I was preparing for that night’s broadcast. On the other end of the line was Al Perlmutter, documentary filmmaker, with an intriguing offer. He was contemplating a documentary on the life and work
of Howard Zinn and needed someone to interview him. Was I interested? How could I not be interested? In the endless tugs-of-war over what constitutes American history, the truth of what happened, and what we might conclude about this country’s place in the world, Zinn had grabbed one end of the rope, and a lot of attention, for decades. His work was bracing, challenging, meant to force the reader into a new encounter with received ideas about the United States."