Book Club

Minneapolis Institute of Art
Sunday, October 4th
10:00-11:30AM

Whether you could not make the Part I book club for a People’s History or just want to see this book discussion to its end, join us to discuss A People’s History of United States by Howard Zinn (Part II). We have read and discussed up until Pg. 406 for Part I and are now ready to see this to the end! We will also use this as an opportunity to discuss the book in its entirety. What better place to round out this history non-fiction pick than at the Minneapolis Institute of Art where you can literally see the junctures of history we talk about from this book through real art (more or less).

We will meet in the cafe area by the stairs/windows and will give folks enough time to grab a coffee and get settled in. Note, this is a slightly new venture for Soft Cover where we have the green light to host our book club but will be sharing this space with other museum goers. By starting this right when the Museum opens, the hope is that the museum will be decently slow. Should we need to relocate for noise purposes, we will see about relocating to perhaps some green space. What I can promise is an ~ experience ~.

Donation: If you donated to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota for last book club, thank you! If you did not get a chance to donate, please consider donating any amount if you’re able to support legal representation for our immigrant community. Link here!

Synopsis for A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn

“In the book, Zinn presented a different side of history from the more traditional "fundamental nationalist glorification of country".
Zinn portrays a side of American history that can largely be seen as the exploitation and manipulation of the majority by rigged systems that hugely favor a small aggregate of elite rulers from across the orthodox political parties.
A People's History has been assigned as reading in many high schools and colleges across the United States. It has also resulted in a change in the focus of historical work, which now includes stories that previously were ignored

Library Journal calls Howard Zinn’s book “a brilliant and moving history of the American people from the point of view of those…whose plight has been largely omitted from most histories.’”

SUNDAY AUGUST 30TH
8-9:30AM (COFFEE WILL BE PROVIDED)
SWEDE HOLLOW CAFE

PART I: DISCUSSING THROUGH CH 15: SELF-HELP IN HARD TIMES (PG. 406)

I am surprised by the interest in wanting to discuss A People’s History. There aren’t many spaces to get to talk about history, let alone, non-fiction. So I’ll give the people what they want (the people being mostly me)! This is going to be under the “Hard Cover” label of Soft Cover Book Club which leans more hard non-fiction such as this. Basically, it just comes with some added thoughtfulness for how we approach discussing non-fiction works.

As part of this book club, we are asking members to donate to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. This is an organization of lawyers that provide free legal assistance to immigrants and refugees in Minnesota (and North Dakota). There is no minimum donation required and we just ask that you email a confirmation to softcoverbookclubmn@gmail.com. Also note, not everyone has extra to give, there is absolutely no penalty for not donating although encouraged.

Synopsis for A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn

“In the book, Zinn presented a different side of history from the more traditional "fundamental nationalist glorification of country".
Zinn portrays a side of American history that can largely be seen as the exploitation and manipulation of the majority by rigged systems that hugely favor a small aggregate of elite rulers from across the orthodox political parties.
A People's History has been assigned as reading in many high schools and colleges across the United States. It has also resulted in a change in the focus of historical work, which now includes stories that previously were ignored

Library Journal calls Howard Zinn’s book “a brilliant and moving history of the American people from the point of view of those…whose plight has been largely omitted from most histories.’”