Howard Zinn (August 24, 1922–January 27, 2010) is one of the country’s most beloved and respected historians, the author of numerous books and plays, and a passionate activist for radical change. Zinn placed himself at the center of the most important historical moments of the last thirty years, during which he has been admired as a writer and an important political and moral voice.

At the age of 18, Zinn was a shipyard worker; at 21 an Air Force bombardier. Both experiences helped shape a radical impulse, an opposition to war, and a passion for history. After getting his Ph.D. from Columbia University in history, he taught at Spelman College, where he worked with young Civil Rights activists including Alice Walker and Marian Wright Edelman. Zinn led anti-war protests, went to Vietnam with Daniel Berrigan and testified in his friend Daniel Ellsberg’s Pentagon Papers trial. Zinn's politically engaged life brought him into many arenas—imprisonment for civil disobedience, fights for open debate in universities, and activist work from the Vietnam era to the present.

The stories of the people and events that inspire his faith in the possibility of historic change are woven through his talks as he discusses the need for a critical understanding of our history and the daily events which shape all of our lives.

Zinn is the author of numerous books and plays including the classic, A People’s History of the United States and the newly-released companion volume Voices of a People's History. Other Zinn titles include Terrorism and War, Declarations of Independence, Artists in Times of War, You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times, The Zinn Reader, Emma and Marx in Soho. Zinn is also the subject of the documentary film—"You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train"—that has garnered critical and public acclaim.

“What can I say that will in any way convey the love, respect, and admiration I feel for this unassuming hero who was my teacher and mentor; this radical historian and people-loving ‘troublemaker,’ this man who stood with us and suffered with us? Howard Zinn was the best teacher I ever had, and the funniest.”

—Alice Walker