We are saddened to learn that famed anti-imperialist historian Howard Zinn, source of inspiration and dose of reality for so many of us, has died at the age of 87. The Boston Globe already has an obituary up. We will share further coverage of his passing as it emerges:
"Howard Zinn, the Boston University historian and political activist who was an early opponent of US involvement in Vietnam and a leading faculty critic of BU president John Silber, died of a heart attack today in Santa Monica, Calif, where he was traveling, his family said. He was 87.
"His writings have changed the consciousness of a generation, and helped open new paths to understanding and its crucial meaning for our lives," Noam Chomsky, the left-wing activist and MIT professor, once wrote of Dr. Zinn. "When action has been called for, one could always be confident that he would be on the front lines, an example and trustworthy guide."
- Update: Noam Chomsky and Naomi Klein will be on Democracy Now! tomorrow