Howard Zinn’s Final Act of Protest

[marmar]

from In These Times:




Howard Zinn’s Final Act of Protest
In his last book, the late, great historian—and former bombardier—examines his troubling actions during W.W. II.

By Micah Uetricht


When he died in January at age 87, historian Howard Zinn was still haunted by the ghosts of World War II. He discussed his career as a bombardier often and cited his participation in war as the main catalyst for his opposition to it. He spent much of his post-combat life considering how he had dropped bombs on innocent civilians without asking why—and how to stop bombs from dropping in the future.

In The Bomb (City Lights), Zinn offers brief histories of the two events that shook him most during that war: the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and the little-known assault on the French port town of Royan, in which Zinn himself participated. At the time, he was emotionally distant from the devastation in both cases. The Bomb serves almost as his apology—as well as a call against arms.

The book’s first essay, “Hiroshima,” does not offer new critiques of the bombing, but rather provides a historical analysis of the horrors wrought by “Little Boy” that is still absent from most conversations about the war.

In pondering whether dropping the bomb was just or unjust, we rarely hear the testimony of a 16-year-old Japanese schoolgirl who saw “a woman with her jaw missing and her tongue hanging out of her mouth … crying for help.” Or a fifth-grader’s remembrance: “I do not know how many times I beg they would cut off my burned arms and legs.” Zinn’s inclusion of these testimonies, along with an examination of the Japanese surrender already within sight and the context of the soon-to-begin Cold War, provide correctives to an event considered beyond reproach by many Americans. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/6198/howard_zinns_final_act_of_protest

[nosmokes]

1. Thanks for posting. K&R

[groovedaddy]

2. The images of the Vietnam war were a huge factor in ending the war. The Pentagon caught on to that

and has sought to curb the reality our military policies are inflicting upon the innocent. The internet has put a rather major dent in that strategy.