You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times

A stunning, collectible edition of Howard Zinn’s landmark memoir that chronicles his lifelong commitment to social justice and steadfast belief that ordinary people can change history

A Beacon Classics edition, featuring spot gloss cover and retro, classic palette

Is change possible? Where will it come from? Can we actually make a difference? How do we remain hopeful?

Howard Zinn--activist, historian, and author of A People’s History of the United States--was a participant in and chronicler of some of the landmark struggles for racial and economic justice in US history. In his memoir, You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train, Zinn reflects on more than thirty years of fighting for social change, from his teenage years as a laborer in Brooklyn to teaching at Spelman College, where he emerged in the civil rights movement as a powerful voice for justice. A former bombardier in World War II, he later became an outspoken antiwar activist, spirited protestor, and champion of civil disobedience. Throughout his life, Zinn was unwavering in his belief that ＂small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.＂ This repackaged edition will inspire a new generation of readers to believe that change is possible.

Howard Zinn (1922-2010) was a historian, author, professor, playwright, and activist. His life’s work focused on a wide range of issues including race, class, war, and history, and touched the lives of countless people. His writing celebrated the accomplishments of social movements and ordinary people, and challenged readers to question the myths that justify war and inequality. Zinn’s influence lives on in millions of people who have read his work and have been inspired by his actions. He ended his autobiography with these encouraging words: ＂We don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an endless succession of presents, and to live now as we think humans should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.＂

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is an assistant professor in Princeton University’s Center for African American Studies and the author of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation.