About Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn was an American historian and a veteran of World War II. He was chair of the history and social sciences department at Spelman College, and a political science professor at Boston University. Zinn wrote more than 20 books, including his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United States in 1980. In 2007, he published a version of it for younger readers, A Young People's History of the United States. His dismissal came from Albert Manley, the first African-American president of that college, who felt Zinn was radicalizing Spelman students. His parents first became acquainted as workers at the same factory. His time in this group would tremendously influence his political views and created for him an appreciation for unions. After graduating from high school in 1940, Zinn took the Civil Service exam and became an apprentice shipfitter in the New York Navy Yard at the age of 18.
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