Failure to Quit: Reflections of an Optimistic Historian

by Howard Zinn

A selection of Howard Zinn’s most popular and accessible essays on history and politics. In this lively collection of essays, now with a new afterword, Zinn discusses a wide range of historical and political topics, from the role of the Supreme Court in U.S. history to the nature of higher education today.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Essays

192 pages, Paperback

First published March 14, 1999

About the author

Howard Zinn was an American historian, playwright, philosopher, socialist intellectual and World War II veteran. 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.

Zinn described himself as "something of an anarchist, something of a socialist. Maybe a democratic socialist." He wrote extensively about the civil rights movement, the anti-war movement and labor history of the United States. His memoir, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train (Beacon Press, 1994), was also the title of a 2004 documentary about Zinn's life and work. Zinn died of a heart attack in 2010, at the age of 87.

Reviews

[Benjamin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the final book i've finished of the four books I received for Christmas from Haymarket books. Unlike most readers of Howard Zinn, I have not read People's History of the United States. I made an attempt at it last year but quit after a few chapters. The book itself was fine. I just lost interest. After reading Failure to Quit, my interest in People's History has been raised again.

Failure to Quit is a brilliant collection of essays and speeches from historian Howard Zinn. I wasn't familiar with the personal details of Zinn before I read this book. I am surprised to find out that Zinn was in the Air Force during WWII and was effected by his participation in the war. Zinn's story reminded me of a less extreme version of Kurt Vonnegut's experience in the same war. I am personally interested in these individuals and what they have to say about war more than I would ever be by some pundit.

I was also very surprised to find out that Zinn taught at Spelman College. Although every time I read Zinn mention Spelman, I couldn't help but think of Trinidad James on his breakout track 'All Gold Everything.'

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zinn is that rarest of creatures: a U.S. critic of the United States. With this short book of essays - a collection of speeches, essays and newspaper columns, really - he shows the history of the World's Greatest Democracy for what it really is: an ugly expansionistic and racist society, whose institutions and decisions are in the hands of an ultra-wealthy little elite, happy to use the medium of nationalism and war to serve their own interests. An eye-opener of a book, not least in light of what has come to pass since its publication. If you read nothing else this year, this may be the book to read.

[Randall Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Howard shows us in this book how we today are being forced, whether we acknowledge it or not, to make a moral choice between two forms of terrorism. Terrorism caused by non-Allies (presented as always bad) and State terrorism caused by our government and/or it’s allies (presented as always well-meaning - once the word “terrorism” is removed). And so Reagan killed more innocents than Khadafi, but Khadafi only is labeled the terrorist. Our country’s proclaimed war against terrorism means the guaranteed killing of innocent civilians for a cause that is clearly unattainable. Why does America have a larger moral right to kill than our non-allies? Our indigenous brethren place selfishness at the bottom of society and look what we did to them to thank them for their selflessness. Free markets never can mean free marketplace of ideas because new markets might mean rethinking social arrangements that have caused the people suffering & war - and that would be unacceptable. Capitalism demands hatred of the enemy abroad through creation of artificial shared interests within an artificial border. I love Howard’s critique of the Plato and his fake Socrates and explaining the real reason why conservatives worship Plato is because he teaches blind obedience to authority in Crito and then in the Republic he gets into joys of the totalitarian state. Plato and his reinvention of Socrates become symbols of obeying the law to the death: not a manual for civil disobedience but a manual for -yawn- civil obedience. Thank you, Howard!

The United States has exacerbated its obvious class struggle since inception by historically ignoring it and removing it as a subject from all acceptable conversations. Our leaders put people in office who have all the fancy Harvard credentials, which we are taught should impress us, so we think maybe they will do the right thing. However, highly educated men like Woodrow Wilson and Kissinger have caused far more problems than the humble American laborer ever could have. As Stanley Milgram shows, we love to trust people in lab coats, or anything that make them look official, even if we have reason to suspect they are up to no good. We are told history is learning about our Presidents, Supreme Court decisions and Statutes, but never about what citizens along the way did to force positive change let alone what we should actually be doing as an informed citizenry today. We as a force are the biggest true threat to our leaders and it shows because it is obvious we are only allowed to vote for one of them, some offered corporate shill, never one of us. Americans want peace, the state wants war, ergo we get endless war. The state has the power and the people are taught they have none so they won’t even think of using it. And we are taught another whopping lie; that our enemies are miraculously only divided across national lines. Howard sees the only answer in internationalism, one people, one planet, and fighting battles only for all under a new Declaration of Interdependence.

Remember that only seven years after Congress wrote in the Bill of Rights that Congress could never abridge free speech, it did exactly that with the Sedition Act of 1798. Then to add insult to injury, the Supreme Court ruled it was constitutional! The 1st amendment stays only bombed into oblivion by patriotic fervor. Order based only on law and “the force of law” is the order of the totalitarian state, not the just state. Remember: “Totalitarian states love voting. You get people to the polls and they register their approval.” Howard jokes that we get to have one more party than the totalitarian state and act jubilant as instructed. Formal constitutional rights mean nothing these days when uneducated police officers who don’t know the law can trump the activist’s request with naked force. We all have the right to distribute literature to our fellow citizens but most police know nothing of Lovell vs Griffin (1938) or Flower vs US (1972). Did you know that for over 100 years, every president without exception openly violated his oath of office by ignoring the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments which involved giving regular rights to Blacks. Remember that rights and amendments are great but not if they are only as enforceable as the Ten Commandments. Don’t forget our wonderful constitution affirmed slavery and said absolutely nothing about economic rights. And Lincoln’s famous Emancipation Proclamation did little when you actually inspect its language. It wasn’t until the Black civil rights struggle of 50’s and 60’s that that the 14th amendment was forced to finally be taken seriously, but no thanks to the Supreme Court or bipartisan American leadership. Most Americans are unaware that outside the United States, whites have always been the minority. Our presidents get to ignore the constitution whenever they want a war and the Supreme Court, which is supposed to be the Guardian of the Constitution, doesn’t really do it’s job either; It refused to hear cases about whether the war in Vietnam and other countries were constitutional wars. And it’s not beholden to the people. Clearly to Howard, change happens by bypassing Washington politics through creating disorder. At some point the disorder becomes acceptable to enough people to become a countervailing power against the policeman’s gun and club. Movements, to Howard, win when the movement develops more authority than laws or the Constitution. But Blackstone warns us that Freedom of Speech in English Common Law (our law) means “no prior constraint”. This means that you have the freedom to say what you will, however after you say it, you can be put in prison. This is what free speech in America is and what most citizens don’t know this. FOX news makes fun of socialists daily but did you know that Oklahoma once had 57 Socialist locals? Being vocal against World War One could send you to prison as a threat to public wellbeing but Woodrow Wilson forcing Americans into the bloodbath wasn’t allowed to be seen at the time for what he was through his actions as President: an even bigger threat to public wellbeing. Why not send Wilson to prison instead, muses Mr. Zinn. Many deep questions asked and answered in Howard’s wonderful book Failure to Quit.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started with this Zinn as a way to see if I want to read the People’s History. I definitely want to now.

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of essays from the last 30 years that inspire me during my morning commute to stand up to Power and Wealth and fight for Liberty. Then I show up at work and answer phones and make copies. Awesome.

Now that I finished it, I can say that I love Howard Zinn more than I did before reading this book (which was a lot).

I particularly like this quote from his essay "The Problem is Civil Disobedience":

It's a strange thing, we think that the law brings order. Law doesn't. How do we know that law does not bring order? Look around us. We live under the rule of law. Notice how much order we have? People say we have to worry about civil disobedience because it will lead to anarchy. Take a look at the present world in which the rule of law obtains. This is the closest to what is called anarchy in the popular mind--confusion, chaos, international banditry. The only order that is really worth anything does not come through the enforcement of law, it comes through the establishment of a society which is just and in which harmonious relationships are established and in which you need a minimum of regulation to create decent sets of arrangements among people. But the order based on law and the force of law is the order of the totalitarian state, and it inevitably leads either to total injustice or to rebellion--eventually, in other words, to very great disorder.

I also learned a lot about the First Amendment, which I knew embarrassingly little about before. It's funny that we all take "free speech" idea so literally, because the way the First Amendment has been interpreted has to do with the government's inability to prevent you from saying things, and little to do with protecting you once you've said things. Because the way it is, once you've said things, all bets are off. Good to know.

Anyway, I'd definitely recommend this if you're looking for a little pick-me-up. Most of the essays are transcripts from speeches Zinn gave so they are extremely readable and go pretty quickly.

[Shai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Howard Zinn is interesting, enlightening, and thought provoking. But most of all, he is civil. His writing challenges you to question your deeply-held assumptions, but he does so in a nice, gentle way, lest he antagonizes. And he is, despite everything, a relentless optimist, which gives me some hope. Just a little.

[Alex Nathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Howard Zinn because he is, as the title suggests, an optimist, especially in the worst of times. My favorite essays are:

- Objections to Objectivity
- The Problem is Civil Obedience
- Second Thoughts on the First Amendment
- Just and Unjust Wars
- Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress: 1492-1992
- “Je Ne Suis Pas un Marxiste”
- Failure to Quit

[Mckinley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very short essays on a variety of historical/civll/legal topics.

[Michael Azzarello · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introduction to Zinn's perspective and work.

[Travis Retzlaff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many great essays. The one providing the title to the book being the best. The opening and closing chapters of it are 💯.

[Nausheen · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Western Civilization is complex. It represents many things, some decent, some horrifying. We would have to pause before celebrating it uncritically when we note that David Duke, the Louisiana Ku Klux Klan member and ex-Nazi says that people have got him wrong. 'The common strain in my thinking,' he told a reporter, 'is my love for Western civilization'
...It is the guardians of the old stories, the orthodox histories, who refuse to widen the spectrum of ideas, to take in new books, new approaches, new information, new views of history. They, who claim to believe in 'free markets,' do not believe in a free marketplace of ideas, any more than they believe in a free marketplace of goods and services. In both material goods and ideas, they want the market dominated by those who have always held power and wealth. They worry that if new ideas enter the marketplace, that people may begin to rethink the social arrangements that have given us so much suffering, so much violence, so much war these last five hundred years of 'civilization.'"

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my introduction to Howard Zinn. I found it on one of my father's bookshelves. A collection of essays on his role as an activist, his thoughts on US government actions in the 20th century, and ultimately how we should remain optimistic. It served as an inspiration to what was possible, and it still does.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

While true that this collection of essays, speeches and short works focuses on the 1960s-early 90s, much of what Professor Zinn has to say about diversity, wealth inequality, war and so forth is just as relevant to life in the US today. In fact, this collection helps us better understand reasons for the downward spiral of this country. Worth reading.