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I’ve decided to begin a series of short bits and pieces about the great Howard Zinn.

As you may know (or you may not know, thanks to the fact Main Stream Media has totally ignored this), Howard Zinn passed away last week at the age of 87 from a heart attack. He was a great historian, author, playwright, and social activist. He was also a political activist whose books such as “A People’s History of the United States” prompted a generation to rethink the nation’s past.

In 1997, Dr. Zinn slipped into popular culture when his writing made a cameo appearance in the film “Good Will Hunting.” The title character, played by Matt Damon, lauds “A People’s History” and urges Robin Williams’s character to read it. Damon, who co-wrote the script, was a neighbor of the Zinns when growing up.

“Howard had a great mind and was one of the great voices in the American political life,” Ben Affleck, Damon’s longtime friend and his costar in “Good Will Hunting,” said in a statement. “He taught me how valuable, how necessary dissent was to democracy and to America itself. He taught that history was made by the everyman, not the elites. I was lucky enough to know him personally, and I will carry with me what I learned from him – and try to impart it to my own children – in his memory.”

Damon was later involved in a television version of the book, “The People Speak,” which ran on the History Channel in 2009.

Here is one short excerpt from “The People Speak”. This clip features Q’Orianka Kilcher who performs at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Be well — be in peace,

Ron Rink
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