Editing Howard Zinn (section)

===Education===
After World War II, Zinn attended [[New York University]] on the [[GI Bill]], graduating with a BA in 1951. At [[Columbia University]], he earned an MA (1952) and a PhD in history with a minor in political science (1958). His master's thesis examined the [[Ludlow massacre|Colorado coal strikes of 1914]].<ref name="EdUpdate2004"/> His [[doctoral dissertation]] ''Fiorello LaGuardia in Congress'' was a study of [[Fiorello La Guardia]]'s congressional career, and it depicted "the conscience of the twenties" as LaGuardia fought for public power, the right to strike, and the redistribution of wealth by taxation. "His specific legislative program," Zinn wrote, "was an astonishingly accurate preview of the [[New Deal]]." It was published by the [[Cornell University]] Press for the [[American Historical Association]]. ''Fiorello LaGuardia in Congress'' was nominated for the American Historical Association's [[Beveridge Award|Beveridge Prize]] as the best English-language book on American history.<ref>{{cite news| first= Michael| last= Powell| url= https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/us/29zinn.html|title=Howard Zinn, Historian, Is Dead at 87|date=28 January 2010|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]| access-date= February 26, 2024}}</ref>

His professors at Columbia included [[Harry Carman]], [[Henry Steele Commager]], and [[David Herbert Donald|David Donald]].<ref name="EdUpdate2004"/> But it was Columbia historian [[Richard Hofstadter]]'s ''[[The American Political Tradition]]'' that made the most lasting impression. Zinn regularly included it in his lists of recommended readings, and, after [[Barack Obama]] was elected [[President of the United States]], Zinn wrote, "If Richard Hofstadter were adding to his book ''The American Political Tradition'', in which he found both 'conservative' and 'liberal' Presidents, both Democrats and Republicans, maintaining for dear life the two critical characteristics of the American system, nationalism and capitalism, Obama would fit the pattern."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://socialistworker.org/2008/11/05/what-next-for-the-struggle|title=What next for struggle in the Obama era?|website= SocialistWorker.org| first= Howard| last= Zinn| date= November 5, 2008| access-date=2020-04-07}}</ref>

In 1960–61, Zinn was a [[post-doctoral]] fellow in [[East Asian Studies]] at [[Harvard University]].