Howard Zinn Thesis

Howard Zinn takes an interesting side when it comes to Columbus and his exploration in A People's History of the United States. While others praise Columbus for what he discovered, Zinn condemns him and attempts to shed light on what treacheries that where committed during the explorations. His focus on the more negative outcomes causes a shift in perspective than most are used to and shows details that many historians may have left out or simply glossed over.

In order to back up his opinions, he present his information in the form of statistics and numbers. With the presence of the information in that format, it provides a more accurate and official feeling to his work. Zinn tends to gloss over the more positive outcomes of the expeditions
lead by Columbus to bring more attention to the less than stellar outcomes brought by him, like the deaths of Indians and the destruction of their villages. Even if his view on Columbus is not widely accepted, his perspective of the events is valid.

Zinn wants to expose Columbus for the atrocities that he was a part of while trying to present history in a perspective that has not been commonly seen.
He opens others eyes to what has been left out in others' history lessons with his perspective. The accounts of the past that he has written clearly shows what message he is attempting to convey through his research. Larry Schweickhert's A Patriot's History of the United States addresses the goals and motives behind the explorations from different countries. He does not go into depth into each voyage, but does include the most notable outcomes to discuss. Yet he does believe the explorers were true Renaissance men and their findings monumental into shaping the new world. Despite remaining in a mostly neutral perspective, Schweickhert reveals the he believes the explorers did more good than harm.

Schweickhert uses many sources in order to back up his research. Much of the information provided has footnotes that allows it to be traced to its source. Overall the sources were readily present and were available to use to check his work. He includes notes and even expands on smaller topics in various portions of the chapters. Schweickhert provided more light on the more positive outcomes of each expedition. He believes the good outweighs the bad when it came to comparing evidence. With the use of sources to back up his information, his perspective is
valid.

Schweikhert paints Columbus and the other explores in a light that almost glosses over the harm the have caused to Natives and praises them for their achievements and discoveries that have been considered influential and important in shaping the modern world. He achieves in conveying the message that the explorers have contributed a lot to the world and manages to influence other' perceptions on the topic in order to understand what he has written.