Brookdale Community College A People History of the United States Discussion

One of the areas of intense study by historians has been the relationship between those who came to the New World and those who inhabited it. In his famous work A People’s History of the United States historian Howard Zinn discusses the nature of some these early encounters on Hispaniola. In your textbook, The American Promise, there is a little reading on this topic on pages 34 – 36 . Read these over first. In the Objective A Canvas module read Readings in American History #3 – Zinn’s essay entitled “Columbus, the Indians and Human Progress“. Compare the two accounts. What do you think of Zinn’s sources(Columbus’ own journal / diary entries, the historian Samuel Morison and his reflections, and the writings of the first hand observations Bartolome de las Casas)? Are any of them reliable? Discuss each one and weigh the pros and cons of each. Do you agree or disagree with Zinn’s points? Do you think HE is a “good” historian? What do you think was the true nature of these early encounters? What should we teach in our history classes? At what grade level? Be sure to answer ALL of these questions within your paper !!

Remember, the purpose of the paper is to compare material in a thoughtful and analytical manner and to offer your own interpretation in a cogent, insightful, academic and collegiate way.

Format

You’ll see these same requirements under the drop box, but here they are: Papers should be 2-3 typed pages, double-spaced, with 1″ margins and in 12′ font. Those submitted in WORD are readable, other formats MAY NOT BE. Your name should be on them, with the submission date. You may add an additional “creative” title if you wish to. Should you choose to quote or use ideas from a source other than yourself be sure to mention the source and page that you took it from. Use the parenthetical system for this, i.e. [Zinn, p. 42]. NO outside sources are to be used, and any sort of plagiarism will result in automatic failure for the course.

I am not looking for the perfect two page paper just something to get me by.