For much of our clerisy, the nation is an anachronism or disgrace

In the late 1970s, a little-known left-wing professor and activist decided to embark on a three-year-long project to balance the alleged patriotic bias in American historical writing.

His name was Howard Zinn, and his project became the book A People’s History of the United States, a desecration of American memory that is the single most destructive act in the annals of American historiography.

Not much was expected of the fiftysomething historian, whose prior books were out of print and whose work had largely consisted of attending protests. His agent sought a $20,000 advance, but Harper & Row coughed up only $10,000. The …