The Political Theater of Howard Zinn: Emma, Marx in Soho, Daughter of Venus
February 15, 2010
Zinn's "A People's History of the United States" is both in the college canon and wadding for the cannons of conservatives. This volume brings his political philosophies to the stage, with mixed success. Zinn writes in the introduction that plays allow him to "zoom in on a few characters" so the audience can identify with them. He succeeds best with this in "Marx in Soho: A Play on History", a one-person show in which Karl Marx talks about his family and his life with humor, sympathy, and love. It's also an easily digestible treatise on Marxist and communist philosophy. "Emma", about American anarchist Emma Goldman, is preachy but entertaining and can be performed with a bare minimum of scenery and props. In "Daughter of Venus", featuring a nuclear scientist who ends up questioning his involvement in weapons development, the characters spend a lot of time shouting at or speaking poorly about one another, and the ending is all too predictable. VERDICT This collection will be of interest to college and university theater, history, and politics students, but it is not a priority purchase for campus libraries.Larry Schwartz, Minnesota State Univ. Lib., Moorhead
Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.