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Week 1 Written Response_United States History since 1877

Week 1 Written Response_United States History since 1877

Q Read the first sentence of the Zinn and Johnson books. Here they are for those of you who haven't obtained the books yet: Zinn: Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the island's beaches and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. Johnson: The creation of the United States of America is the greatest of all human adventures. Based only on these first sentences, what impressions do you get of each book/author? What insight do these first sentences give you into where you think the books are headed?

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If we consider only the first sentences of each of the books and aim to decode what kind of writing and the nature of the author will be, then, honestly, it looks like it is going to be very intriguing and an unexploited reality. Zinn provides a very fresh and indigenous perspective into the thoughts and attitudes of the Arawak inhabitants when they first encountered foreigners. He makes it sound like a novel about the people of an island that has been long forgotten. Johnson’s approach is more like the beginning of a story of the past developed in a manner to be informative and engaging.