Howard Zinn (1922-2010) Was One Essay

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A new "revisionist" movement, sometimes epitomized by historians like Howard Zinn, seeks to correct these historical errors and treat the Amerindian cultures in a more balanced, less Eurocentric, fashion (See, for example: Troura; Restall).

The crux of this piece, Zinn's Chapter 1 of a People's History of the United States, focuses on the great civilizations which populated Meso and South America long before the Spanish arrived. The Toltec, Maya, Aztec, and Inca were the predominant cultures who had reigned in the area at least 3500 BCE, with most of the advanced and classical periods of their civilizations from 200-1200, and experiencing a decline from 1200 to the Spanish Conquest. While our understanding of the nature of the Amerindian classical civilizations is skewed due to so much material being destroyed by the Spanish, we do know that for several hundred years before Cortes landed there had been a great deal of infighting and unrest between the indigenous tribes, weaking the culture through a combination of mass warfare and human sacrifice. Instead of seeing the conquest of Mesoamerica as the destiny of Europeans, Zinn (like other revisionists) believses that it was a combination of technological advantage and shock and awe that made Cortes successful (groups of mounted calvary in armor). Montezuma, in giving Cortes numerous gifts of gold and precious stones, was trying to remind Cortes that he, Montezuma, was all powerful and could bestow any form of wealth on any lesser being.

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This, unfortunately, had the opposite effect and only made Cortes' avarice grow. Much, too, has been said that the Aztec's thought Cortes a reincarnation of one of their Gods, a fairhaired traveller from the sea. However, just how much Montecuzma was convinced of this remains speculative. All this, was a cosequence of the manner in which Christopher Columbus interacted with the Arawak indians. Columbus' exaggeration of the amount of wealth the new World offered was indeed the reason that fueled the lust and greed of Spanish Conquerers. "Like other states of the modern world, Spain sought gold, which was becoming the new mark of wealth more useful than land because it could buy anything" (Zinn, History is a Weapon).

Zinn's ability to paint a culturally relevant picture with known facts allows the reader the opportunity to continually rethink and reevaluate past knowledge. This, in fact, seems to be his main purpose -- do not accept history as fact, but ask, what do the facts support? For instance, Zinn allows us to see the ways in which the conqueror.....

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