A Young People's History of the United States

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-book review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the following best describes Zinn’s depiction of famous figures from the American Revolution?

A) Cowardly warmongers

B) Self-interested opportunists

C) Erratic anti-monarchists

D) Anarchists who stumbled into democracy by chance

2. According to Zinn, what is the meaning behind the title of Chapter 4, “Tyranny Is Tyranny,” which discusses the social forces that animated the American Revolution?

A) It implies that tyranny came from colonial leaders as much as from the British Crown.

B) It emphasizes that the British monarchy was the most tyrannical in the world.

C) Even Indigenous communities had their own tyrannical systems of government.

D) “Tyranny is tyranny” is a phrase chanted by enslaved Black individuals during this period.

3. Which of the following best describes Zinn’s prevailing ideology regarding the terminology used in the text?

A) It reflects the actual language used by the people of the time because honoring history with language is important to him.

B) It reflects the actual language used by the people of the time because, although it may be difficult for young readers to hear, he wants them to understand the full force of early American prejudice.

C) It reflects the state of scholarship and acceptable popular rhetoric at the time of the book’s publication because inequalities can be reinforced with language.

D) It reflects the state of scholarship and acceptable popular rhetoric at the time of the book’s publication because using the lingo of academia gives his book gravitas.

4. According to Zinn, what was the War of 1812, which made Andrew Jackson famous, primarily about?

A) Territory

B) Money

C) Prestige

D) Freedom

5. In the pre-Civil War labor movement protests, children would often join in these strikes to demand better working conditions. What is the main reason that children were present?

A) Their mere presence would drum up sympathy in landlords, bankers, and other government officials.

B) Child labor was legal at the time, so it only made sense for children to participate.

C) Childcare was incredibly difficult to come by in those days, especially among America’s poor.

D) The protesters wanted their children to see, firsthand, the lengths they were willing to go to fight for justice.

6. Zinn writes that in the last decades of the 19th century, the government supported rich individuals and big businesses while simultaneously quashing potential gains for poor people. At what level(s) did this governmental support occur?

A) At the state level

B) At the federal level

C) At both state and federal levels

D) At both federal and municipal levels

7. In Chapter 16, Zinn writes that President Harry S. Truman built a “mood of crisis” to stoke Americans’ fear of Communism. What was Americans’ main fear about Communism?

A) That it would destroy industry in America

B) That it would force everyone to wear uniforms

C) That it would limit freedom of expression, particularly for artists, writers, and the creative class

D) That it would overturn American democracy

8. In which two other Southeast Asian countries did the United States bomb sites and raid villages during the Vietnam War?

A) Laos and Thailand

B) Cambodia and Myanmar

C) Myanmar and Thailand

D) Laos and Cambodia

9. Zinn notes that, in the 1970s, it became widely known that the CIA was conducting secret (and often meddling) operations of all kinds. Which of the following is NOT an example of their meddling?

A) Supporting an assassination plot in Cuba

B) Helping an effort to disrupt democracy in Chile

C) Administering LSD to unsuspecting Americans to test its effects

D) Supplying Mexico with weapons to fight Panamanian rebels

10. Zinn notes that, in the 1990s, veterans of one particular war stepped forward to protest against Bush’s “Desert Storm,” the arms race with the Soviet Union, and war of any kind. Which war were these protesters veterans of?

A) Korean War

B) World War I

C) Vietnam War

D) World War II

11. In the 1990s, protests and demonstrations demanded “living wages” for all, but especially—and most urgently—for the workers in one field. What was this field?

A) Farming

B) The service industry

C) Factory workers and urban production

D) Engineering

12. In the wake of the September 11 attacks, what Middle Eastern country did the United States government bomb in an attempt to destroy Al-Qaeda?

A) Iran

B) Syria

C) Afghanistan

D) Jordan

13. In August 2005, what was the name of the massive hurricane that devastated New Orleans, leaving numerous dead, injured, or unhoused?

A) Hurricane Katrina

B) Hurricane Kathy

C) Hurricane Kelsey

D) Hurricane Kassy

14. What law allowed for the detainment of suspected terrorists at Guantánamo Bay prison, allowing the United States to hold them there while denying them the international legal rights of prisoners of war?

A) The Revised Privacy Act

B) The Human Rights Act

C) The Patriot Act

D) The Guantánamo Act

15. In the final chapter of the book, Zinn names several marginalized groups that he hopes to effectively expose. Which of the following is NOT one of those groups?

A) The poor and working class

B) LGBTQ people

C) Small business owners

D) People of color

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. What is a “historiography”? Why is this term important to understanding Zinn’s perspective on the study of history and the crafting of A Young People’s History of the United States?

2. Select one historical figure that Zinn discusses in the book and describe how that figure illustrates his message that heroism is a subjective (and often problematic) concept.