Introduction
The history of America is full of intrigues and unique tales of the country’s path to progress. The argument of American history is a paper on the various events that took place in the United States and the world in general. Both the events will be analyzed according to the manner in which the country was involved in shaping them. The paper takes a comprehensive approach at the whole political and social history of the state. As a result the paper has been divided into three parts all of which are based on books about the country. The paper therefore gives special reference to the works of several authors in the construction of the history of the state and its activities.
The paper is thus divided so as to give each of the three aspects attention and priority in its own rights. A look at the whole paper will bring out one conspicuous connotation. The analyses are based of the domestic aspect of the event on one hand and the international aspects of the same. The first book for instance takes a look at the role of the United States in the change of regimes around the world.
The book takes into consideration the writings of Kinzer in his book, Overthrow: United States against the World. The second part takes a comprehensive look at the emancipation of various sections of society in the united states,. Special reference is given to American People’s Voice of Resistance, a book by Howard Zinn. The last part of the paper is kind of comparative and looks at the works of two authors and their relevance to historical events. The first book is Propaganda by Edward Bernay whch elaborates on the uses of certain ideas to achieve social control. This is analyzes in comparison to Friedman’s book, Secret Histories.
Overthrow: United States against The World
In his book Overthrow: United States against the World Kinzer explores the whole aspect of the American foreign policy. The book takes an analytical look at the roe of the American government in the change of regimes around the world. The most common example is the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Regime change has been prominent in world politics for a long time now. Kinzer’s book takes a keen look at the whole process and the motives behind the overthrows.
Special reference is given to the role of America and the interests it serves to effect regime change in the said countries. Being an experienced foreign policy correspondent Kinzer makes full use of his experience in international matters to explore the whole concept (Kinzer 222).
He comes up with argument that is both unique and credible for analysis of the role of the United States in the regime change campaign. Among his assertions is the one in which he states that the superiority and bully mentality are part of the American psyche And as a result he dispels the notions that most regime changes have been effected by certain presidents during their tenure. As much as he concedes to the fact that the role played by some of the leaders in the area of regime change is great, Kinzer finds this trait as an inherent part of the American political philosophy.
Kinzer takes a look at the history of the whole regime change aspect. According to him regime change is not a new phenomenon in the world. The role of America in effecting the changes has been documented well. He cites the examples of regime change in Guatemala, Iran and Chile. For instance the case of Iran has been well documented in the book. The attack and change of regimes in Nicaragua, Panama and Grenada has been.
The aim of the book is to highlight the aspects that led the United States to get involved in the whole process of overthrowing legitimate regimes around the world. The book consequently explores the success of these tactics and the factors behind them. The regime change operations have been numerous in the history of world politics. The United States has been the chief force behind them, the author therefore analyses the whole aspect of the American involvement of the same.
For instances he asserts that the American bully mentality is highly behind the operations. However he goes a head to cite other possible causes that made the United States to take of the various regimes. For instance the scramble for resources has been a dominant factor in the American involvement in regime changes around the world. Through this the United States cites certain reasons and invades the country with the aim of ceasing resources.
American People’s Voice of Resistance
American People’s Voice of Resistance is a c collection of essays by Howard Zinn. The book clearly documents the history of America as far as the struggle for emancipation is concerned. From the independence movement, antislavery campaigns, women liberation and the civil rights movement the book is a full documentation of the plight of Americans and their endeavor to break free from what they perceived as negative.
The initial part of the book of the book is more categorical on the arras in which the country has experienced struggle in the process of emancipation. For instance the book tackles the topics of Slavery, the independence war and women’s movement in the early times (Arnove & Zinn 342). Zinn’s work on the entire story of the struggles and process of overcoming is unique and rare in the manners in which it approaches the issues.
As a result the stories are a perfect documentation of history and the manner in which things happened in the history of the country. American resistance to war abroad is well detailed n the3 book and essays by Zinn give a clear picture of how the country fought hard for victory. Aspects have been including in which sacrifice was the main thing in the whole process. However the most conspicuous part of Zinn’s book is the manner in which the country has gone through bouts of domestic social and political oppression. It is at this stage that the book takes an analytical look at the instances in the history of the United States where human rights had been denied. Priority is given on how the various sections of the society fought hard to bring about the desired change and out an end to the oppression.
The early women’s movement for instance underscores the country’s domestic form of oppression. This was a period that was symbolized by prejudice which was extended through oppression to the women. During this time women rights were stepped upon and that had no position in the society. Zinn brings out the whole plight of women during time when the society was dominated by men. The author takes the reader’s through some of the reasons that led to the movement. From Zinn’s perspective, the oppression of women had gone beyond what they could have tolerated and as a result the movement was given impetus.
This goes the same way as to say that women had had enough of oppression and time was ripe for change to be initiates. However the most interesting part of Zinn’s book is the manner in which he analyses the whole process of emancipation. He provides an analytical perspective of how the movement survived through time. Slaver is another internal form of oppression that the author tackles in his book. Through the discussion of slavery Zinn brings out the whole truth of the take of events. Domestic oppression in the United States is therefore better understood through Zinn’s analysis of the event.
As a result the book focuses more on how the blacks had to endure hardship in their quest for equality. Slavery was the highest for of oppression in the United States. This was the only time in the history of the country that people were being discriminated for belonging to a certain race. The voice of the oppressed blacks was loud and Zinn provides a better understanding of the struggle and quest for emancipation.
Propaganda and Secret Histories
The use of propaganda to expand the ideology of the leadership among the subordinates has received wide attention in the history of the world. Various governments and institutions of business among others, have taken the use of propaganda to spread the intention and spread their doctrine (Miller & Bernays 43). This is mostly done with the intention to achieve a means. However no piece of literature had captured the whole story f the use of propaganda like Edward Bernay’s Propaganda.
As a result the book is the best form of explanation at how propaganda is put in use so as to convince the citizen to approve the acts of the state. Bernay’s book contains various concepts of social control through which the thoughts of the citizens are controlled by a use of certain measures. Most of these include the spread of biased opinion to the citizens with the intention of making them believe. Friedman’s book, Secret Histories on the other hand contains documented records of the past where the use of propaganda was perfected by the authorities. It is at this point that the two books complement one another.
The first book Propaganda by Edward Bernay contains ideas and concepts on how the use of Propaganda is invoked to as to achieve the end of social control. The second book Secret Histories by Friedman contains real life instances ion history about how this was achieved.
Secret Histories makes the full use of practical stories to explain how the manipulation of events was done in advance so as to achieve or bock certain activities. One of the most captivating stories is that of Martin Luther king. In the course of the book Friedmann elucidates on the story involving Martin Luther king. All these have to do with the intentions of the authorities to curtail the activities of the activist. The story unveils the endeavors of Kennedy in trying to subvert Luther’s efforts (Friedman 123). This was a domestic manifestation of the use of unclear means to achieve a means that was hidden to the public.
This clearly comes to agreement of the ideas of Edward Bernay in his book Propaganda. As a result the role of propaganda in America’s social events is well captured in the manner in which the whole saga involving Martin Luther is concerned. The conflict of Vietnam on the other hand offers the discussion about the relevance of Bernay’s ideas on the international frame. Communications and the spread of information were skewed in favor of the conflict.
In other words reporting about the war was not based on the reality on the ground but of winning the public approval of the same. During the build up to the war the necessity of American involvement was publicized all over. People were meant to understand the importance and need of the United States to be involved in the whole military conflict. As a result by then most Americans approved the actions of the government about the same.
Conclusion
Arguments on American history paper have primarily focused of the historical events of the United States. Analysis throughout the paper was done in special reference to the selected readings by well known historians. The purpose of the paper was to explore the events that unfolded with the American state and society in mind. The paper was thus divided into three parts so as to explore three distinct events in the American history.
The paper has also taken interest in the role played by the American government in all the events. The factors that motivated the state to act in certain ways have also been discussed. The final part of the paper took a comparative a analysis of events as documented by two different writers. One was full of ideas on social control while the second was a series of events in which the United States was involved. The paper has been successful in exploring the history of various events in the united sates as written by the chosen authors.
Works Cited
Arnove, Anthony & Zinn Howard. Voices of a people’s history of the United States. Indiana: Seven Stories Press, 2004.
Friedman, John. The secret histories: hidden truths that challenged the past and changed the world. New York: Picador, 2005.
Kinzer, Stephen. Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq. New York: Times Books, 2007.
Miller, Mark & Bernays, Edward. Propaganda. Washington: Ig Publishing, 2004.