Howard Zinn On Democratic Education

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Howard Zinn with Donaldo Macedo

Series in Critical Narrative

Paradigm/Routledge (March 2008)

Paper • ISBN-13: 9781594510557 • US $34.95 • 224 pgs.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Perhaps no other historian has had a more profound and revolutionary impact on American education than Howard Zinn. This is the first book devoted to his views on education and its role in a democratic society. Howard Zinn on Democratic Education describes what is missing from school textbooks and in classrooms—and how we move beyond these deficiencies to improve student education.

This book seeks to redefine national goals at a time when public debates over education have never been more polarized—nor higher in public visibility and contentious debate. Zinn’s essays on education, many never before published, are framed in this book by a dialogue between Zinn and Donaldo Macedo, a distinguished critic of literacy and schooling, whose books with Paulo Freire, Noam Chomsky, and other authors have received international acclaim.

PRAISE:

“This is a well-written and dynamic book to read, and a sociological treasure within the field of education. The authors explore both education and society within the context of democracy in a scholarly and meaningful way. The authors challenge us to re-define American culture and test our courage to develop a more equitable democracy.”

Leslie T. C. Wang, Contemporary Sociology

“Howard Zinn on Democratic Education is an excellent display of an author’s uncompromising commitment to democracy and education, especially in the face of repression. Zinn’s courage in confronting America’s historical and contemporary ills compels us to deliver the same sense of justice to our students and our country.”

Karen Emily Suurtamm, Canadian Journal of Education

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Howard Zinn (1922–2010) was a historian, playwright, and activist. He wrote the classic A People’s History of the United States, “a brilliant and moving history of the American people from the point of view of those … whose plight has been largely omitted from most histories” (Library Journal). The book, which has sold more than 2.6 million copies and been translated into 23 foreign editions, has become a cultural touchstone, encouraging interest in “people’s histories” in universities and activist meetings alike. In 2009, History aired The People Speak, an acclaimed documentary co-directed by Zinn, based on A People’s History and a companion volume, Voices of a People’s History of the United States. As Noam Chomsky wrote, “Howard Zinn’s work literally changed the conscience of a generation.”

Zinn grew up in a working-class, immigrant household in Brooklyn. At eighteen, he became a shipyard worker and flew bomber missions over Europe during World War II, experiences which helped to shape his opposition to war and his interest in the lives of working people. After attending college under the GI Bill and earning a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University, he taught at Spelman College, a historically black women’s college, where he became active in the civil rights movement. After being fired by Spelman for his support for student protesters, Zinn became a professor of Political Science at Boston University, where he taught until his retirement in 1988. He wrote more than forty books.

Donaldo Macedo is a Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Education at the Unviersity of Massachusetts, Boston. A critical theorist, linguist, and expert on literacy and education studies, Macedo is the founder and former chair of the Applied Linguistics Master of Arts Program at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Macedo has been a central figure in the field of critical pedagogy for more than 20 years. His work with Paulo Freire broke new theoretical ground, as it helped to develop a critical understanding of the ways in which language, power, and culture contribute to the positioning and formation of human experience and learning. Macedo was Freire’s chief translator and English language interpreter. His published dialogues with Paulo Freire are considered classic works not only for their elucidation of Freire’s theories of literacy but also for adding a more critical and theoretically advanced dimension to the study of literacy and critical pedagogy. Macedo’s and Freire’s coauthored book, Literacy: Reading the World and the Word, is central to critical literacy in that it redefines the very nature and terrain of literacy and critical pedagogy. Professor Macedo has published more than one hundred articles, books, and book chapters in the areas of linguistics, critical literacy, and multicultural education. His publications have been translated into several languages.