Ch. 1 "Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress."

The first time I read the chapter I thought the author was trying to show his viewpoint of the history of the United States. I thought he was only expressing a view about the annihilation of different races and cultures by foriegners, like Spanyards and the Arawaks. But after further thought I realized it is much deeper than the killings. His thesis statement on pages 10 and 11 summarizes the view perfectly, "The history of any country, presented as the history of a family, conceals fierce conflicts of interest (sometimes exploding, most repressed) between conquerors and conquered, masters and slaves, capitalists and workers, dominators and dominated in race and sex." Now I feel that he sees the history of many countries, including the United States, not only based on killings, but on every conflict that occurs between different kinds of people of all ethnicities. He doesn't want readers to feel pity on any of the groups, because he sees the violence the endured a part of history that was neccesary for the world to develop. Slavery, discrimination, and sexism were building blocks for the future America. Examples in the text include the slavery and annihilation of the Arawaks of the Bahamas, from Columbus and his Spanyard crew, the Pilgrims and the Indians, and a few other vaugely mentioned historical events. These examples showed proof that although the violence endured was severe and seemed unneccesary at the time, nations wouldn't exist without it.
I learned a lot of new historical information as I read this chapter. Since I was a young child I've thought of Christopher Columbus as a hero, not a brutal killer. I never knew he was took part in all those vicous acts. This reading completely changed my view on how I see the Spanyards who discovered the Americas and even though I knew there were conflicts between the Pilgrims and Indians, I would have never expected it to be as harsh as it was. For example a quote on page 13 by William Bradford, a writer at the time, wrote, "Those that scaped the fire were slaine with the sword; some hewed to peeces, others rune throw with their rapiers, so they were quickly dispatchte, and few escaped. It was concieved tey thus destroyed about 400 at this time. It was a fearful fright to see them thus frying in the fryer." As intense as these acts seem, I do agree with Zinn, that the were essential to the creation of the country. Things would be completely different if these events did not happen, and who knows what our nation would be like right now if they had not happened.