The People's Historian / Galvanizing Labor Day

The People's Historian / Galvanizing Labor Day

From Ralph Nader Radio Hour by Ralph Nader

September 5, 2026 · 1h 32m

About this episode

Ralph discusses Howard Zinn's legacy with Dave Zirin and Labor Day activism with Gene Bruskin.

Ralph welcomes sportswriter Dave Zirin to talk about his new book, "The People's Historian: The Outsized Life of Howard Zinn." Then Ralph speaks to labor activist Gene Bruskin about their upcoming Labor Day event at Busboys and Poets in DC, "Galvanizing Labor Day for a Workers’ Compact." Dave Zirin is the sports editor for The Nation , a columnist for the Progressive , and the author of eight books on the politics of sports, including What’s My Name, Fool?: Sports and Resistance in the United States and A People’s History of Sports in the United States . His new book is The People’s Historian: The Outsized Life of Howard Zinn . There’s a despondency that exists now, I believe, among people who are also very angry about the state of our politics. And the thing that Howard always insisted upon—he was an activist who happened to be a historian, not a historian who was an activist. And that doesn’t denigrate his incredible skills as a historian, it just says where his priorities were in his time on this planet. And one of the things that Howard believed so strongly is that the movements themselves needed to have a strong sense of history. The movements needed to know that we live in…

People in this episode

Host: Ralph Nader

Guests: Dave Zirin, Gene Bruskin

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Nation, Progressive

Books & works: The People's Historian: The Outsized Life of Howard Zinn

Places: Busboys and Poets, DC

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