Do you like the American court system? Do you trust it? I imagine you don't. There's that latest presidential election, for one; whichever side you were for, you're undoubtedly pissed at a judge or two. Also, there's you, yourself. The world is too big for us to have knowledge about every culture, and we are often too eager to submit answers; at least I am. And so there's a tendency, either consciously or unconsciously, for cops to commit acts of racial profiling, and for judges like Judy to never say, "I have no fucking clue." People come to conclusions far too quickly, and they do it far too often.

That seems to be the main point of Howard Zinn's writings, and of the two powerful, exciting, and remarkably loose lectures included on Heroes and Martyrs. In contrast to Noam Chomsky, who throws out atrocities left and right to strengthen two basic points (that American media uses adjectives in a consistently propagandistic manner, and that even "saints" like Jimmy Carter respect only certain, non-Timorese lives), Howard Zinn is a bit more casual in approach. The facts come slowly, and far from abundantly, and they are peppered with often-humorous anecdotes.

Part of the reason for his approach, I think, is that he's very careful not to commit the same crimes he's attacking. Thus, in his talk on Sacco and Vanzetti, he does not try to fill in the blanks as to whether the subjects were innocent or guilty of bank robbery. They might well be, he admits, but that is far less frightful than the justice system's method of securing their execution. Howard points out the lack of evidence needed to make any such assertion, and he rigorously attacks the "proof" used to get these anarchists executed. For example, the interrogation process doesn't concern itself with actualities relating to the crime, but with the political thoughts of the accused ("Did you love this country in the last week of May 1917?"). He goes over the prosecution team's witnesses, too, and has fun with the one who said he saw the escaping bank robbers run "like foreigners". Zinn also does a great job describing the scary atmosphere of the time, mentioning another case in which the filmmaker who made The Spirit of 76 was put on trial because his movie on the American Revolution showed Britain, our World War I allies, as the enemy.

Zinn keeps a fascinating story fascinating, and provides enough of a sketch for listeners to get hooked on his subjects. With Emma Goldman, a slightly more popular story is told (thanks to women's studies), but Howard Zinn does another fine job in conveying the time, and gives ample reason to justify why Emma is now a major heroine for women and humankind to admire. Like Malcolm X, she never held back her opinions, and spoke about free love in churches, and her belief that marriage is something done simply for economic reasons. "Besides that powerful idea of direct action" ("voting won't do it, ballots won't do it, women must win their rights directly"), Zinn applauds Emma's "ferocious" independence, an independence that he clearly shares.

When I listened to Heroes and Martyrs, I instantly thought of how it might delight Fugazi or the gals from Rouge, but I recommend Zinn to anybody who likes a good story, a good fact or a good lesson to learn and make known to others.