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.