"To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness... And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."

- Howard Zinn

HOWARD ZINN - YOU CAN'T BE NEUTRAL ON A MOVING TRAIN documents the life and times of the historian, activist and author of the best selling classic A People's History of the United States. Featuring rare archival materials, interviews with Howard Zinn as well as colleagues and friends including Noam Chomsky, Marian Wright Edelman, Daniel Ellsberg, Tom Hayden and Alice Walker, YOU CAN'T BE NEUTRAL captures the essence of this activist and thinker who has been a catalyst for progressive change for more than 60 years. As Noam Chomsky has said of him, "it is no exaggeration to say he has changed the consciousness of a generation."

YOU CAN'T BE NEUTRAL follows the trajectory of Zinn's life from his early childhood in the slums of New York City. In the 1930s Zinn worked in the shipyards and organized workers. In the 40s he met his wife, enlisted in the Air Force to fight facsim, and during WWII, dropped bombs on European towns and cities. He was on one of the first flights that dropped the newly invented weapon napalm (onto a town that was about to surrender late in the war) - an experience that was to inform and shape his pacifist outlook thereafter.

Moving to Atlanta after the war with his young family to teach at Spelman College, Zinn took a leading role in the early Civil Rights Movement, resisting the Southern power establishment and then the FBI. In the 60s, while teaching at Boston University, Zinn led students in protesting the Vietnam War, and flew to Vietnam on a peace mission where he negotiated the return of American servicemen from the North Vietnamese. Although he had discovered that the Vietnamese leaders were looking for a dialogue with American leaders, his entreaties to the U.S. administration to peacefully engage them were ignored.

As a teacher and writer, Zinn has informed and inspired generations of those who struggle for social and economic justice with hope. His landmark book classic A People's History of the United States, an eye-opening history of the United States from the perspective of the disenfranchised, has sold over one million copies since it was first published in 1980, and amazingly sales continue to increase every year. Now in his eighties, Zinn continues to speak widely to enthusiastic audiences of all ages.

"Sharp, incisive and articulate... An important political film that needs to be seen."—Boston Phoenix

"In his life and work, in his dedication and courage and searing honesty, Howard Zinn has become a model and inspiration for those who seek justice and peace. His contributions are truly incomparable. It is no exaggeration to say he has changed the consciousness of a generation."—Noam Chomsky

"He was the best teacher I had, certainly the funniest."—Alice Walker

"Zinn is still a vigorous force of nature to be reckoned with; a model of defiance against the status quo or the past and the present. By telling the truth about our country... Howard frees future generations of Americans from recreating the same grevious errors of the past."—Paul Lussier, Author, "The Last Refuge of Scoundrels"