Social historian Howard Zinn dies at 87

Howard Zinn, the author of "A People's History of the United States" and other books, has died today in Santa Monica.  He was

The Boston Globe has a thorough obituary of the legendary progressive.   It includes this quote from Noam Chomsky:

"He's made an amazing contribution to American intellectual and moral culture," Noam Chomsky, the left-wing activist and MIT professor, said tonight. "He's changed the conscience of America in a highly constructive way. I really can't think of anyone I can compare him to in this respect."

Chomsky added that Dr. Zinn's writings "simply changed perspective and understanding for a whole generation. He opened up approaches to history that were novel and highly significant. Both by his actions, and his writings for 50 years, he played a powerful role in helping and in many ways inspiring the Civil rights movement and the anti-war movement."