Here are some links to material on Howard Zinn:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1524095
The article assigned for this week that takes a critical look at Zinn's work:
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/07/lies-the-debunkers-told-me-how-bad-history-books-win-us-over/260251/
It strikes me that the author starts from a logical fallacy in comparing two books by authors with drastically different credentials (Zinn has Ph.D. in Political Science and taught at Boston U, Barton is a minister with no credentials in history or law). He also compares the passion ignited by the books by citing the mention of Zinn's book by Matt Damon in "Dead Poet's Society" (a movie and a fictional character) and comparing it to Mike Huckabee's comments on Barton's book, stating that children should be "forced at gunpoint" to read it (real life politician). Hardly a reasonable comparison.
Here is a short video trailer of a show that was based on Zinn's book--check it out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qpm6aw5OWw
