March
19
Ep. 0054: Three Leftist Historians Every Libertarian Should Read
Join CJ as he discusses the lives and work of the great 20th century leftist/revisionist American historians William Appleman Williams, Gabriel Kolko, and Howard Zinn. While CJ doesn’t agree with them on every issue, nonetheless he agrees with them more often than not, especially on the subjects of war & peace, foreign policy, civil liberties, and their critiques of corporatism and the American Power Elite.
External Links
- LRN.FM’s indiegogo campaign to restore the availability of their programming in Africa
- An article about W.A. Williams by libertarian historian Joseph Stromberg
- A very good Scott Horton interview with Gabriel Kolko (Scott did several with him before Kolko’s death) from 2007, talking about America’s post-World War II foreign policy
- An in-depth interview with Howard Zinn that I highly recommend (this is the same one I mentioned & linked to in Ep. 49, “Historical Lies by Omission”)
- An interesting piece by antiwar conservative Bill Kauffman praising some aspects of the New Left
Thanks so much for this episode. There is MUCH for libertarians to learn from Leftist historians, as well as many Leftist writers in general (i.e., Gore Vidal, Edward Abbey, et al.).
You’re welcome. I agree with your sentiments on this issue.
I’m definitely a fan of Vidal & Abbey as well. Like the 3 historians I covered here, they’re generally considered ‘of the Left,’ but they have a strong independent streak & are actually quite libertarian on many issues.
Also, I’d throw into that category people like Noam Chomsky, Carl Oglesby, & Kirkpatrick Sale.
I almost talked about some of these writers in the episode, but decided to just limit it to three (who were historians by profession) for the sake of time.
Sorry I have been commenting months after you have posted these ‘casts, but I have been working my way through them, trying to catch up….
I love how you show that history is not right and wrong, black and white; which is so often what we see in the history books once they are boiled down to be politically correct. And of course….because politically correct applies just as much to the Right politically as to the Left….despite what many in the media claim.
Thanks again.