A People's History of the American Empire is a graphic novel written by Howard Zinn and Mike Konopacki and drawn by Paul Buhle. It a combined adaptation of Zinn's books A People's History of the United States and You Can't Be Neutral On A Moving Train, as well as other sources. The book begins with 9/11, with Howard Zinn writing an opinion piece opposing the Iraq War. Then Zinn is shown speaking at an antiwar rally where he provides a history of American wars and interventions, which forms the framing device for the narrative. Beginning with Wounded Knee and ending with Guantanamo Bay, Zinn makes a case for opposing further overseas intervention.
This book provides examples of:
- Author Tract: It's pretty up front about this, especially since it's framed as a lecture.
- Banana Republic: Nicaragua is portrayed this way.
- Bandito: Nicaraguan Augusto Sandino provides a rare heroic example and even rarer non-Mexican one. Pancho Villa and Zapata also briefly appear.
- Bomb-Throwing Anarchists: Sandino again. This trope is also discussed as part of the reason Sacco and Vanzetti were convicted.
- Braids, Beads and Buckskins: The Sioux in both the Wounded Knee and later Pine Ridge segments dress this way.
- Chummy Commies: Zinn mentions having several Communist friends growing up.
- CIA Evil, FBI Good: Both CIA and FBI are portrayed as sinister organizations with unchecked power, as opposed to having one organization be benevolent by comparison.
- Distinguished Gentleman's Pipe: Mark Twain smokes one during his appearance.
- Forever War: A major point the book makes is that the United States has been locked into a cycle of endless wars for most of its existence.
- Hopeless War: Zinn's message is that ultimately war is senseless.
- Informed Judaism: Zinn was Jewish, but this is only mentioned when he gets married and a Rabbi officiates the ceremony.
- Interchangeable Asian Cultures: A rare Middle Eastern example occurs with CIA operative Donald Wilber who hilariously lampshades it. "I know, I'm wearing an Arab kaffiyeh. A little eccentric for a Persian specialist. But we CIA men take such liberties because we can!"
- Latino Is Brown: Zigzagged, most unnamed Latino characters are brown-skinned, but all of the Latin American historical figures are portrayed correctly as whatever ethnicity / race they were.
- Pretext for War: Zinn notes that pretexts for war are frequently hoaxes, such as the Gulf of Tonkin incident.
- Prevent the War: The whole reason Zinn is giving this lecture is with the hope of doing this; it fails.
- Rebel Leader: Several are featured, such as Emilio Aguinaldo, Antonio Maceo and Augusto Sandino.
- Sleazy Politician: All of them, with the noted exception of Socialist presidential candidate Eugene Debbs.
- Soapbox Sadie: Zinn is by all means a heroic version, and his history of activism is detailed.
- Twilight of the Old West: The opening is about the massacre at Wounded Knee, which is usually seen as a catalyst of that era. The Ludlow Massacre is also detailed, which occurred in 1914 and was either at the very end or just after the end of the Old West depending on who you ask.
- White Man's Burden: President McKinley gives a speech justifying the invasion of the Philippines by saying it is America's duty to "civilize and Christianize" the Filipinos (even though they were already mostly Christians).
