Thomas Edison, bastard capitalist - Hit and Run reviews Howard Zinn's take on American history (for kids!) and finds it, um, bizarre and tendentious. (HT: Chequerboard)

More - From Walter Kirn's book review:

Though the light bulb has worked out fairly well for all of us - male and female, black and white, Republican and Democrat - Zinn's depressive progressivism doesn't include this fact, but instead leaves us with the impression that every dime that landed in Edison's pocket would have been better off staying in someone else's. Teenagers who are lazy or bad at science may find this message comforting. Don't bother to invent things, kids, and certainly don't market them. America will be a better place.

Darker, but better in that "feel good" kind of way. That Jonas Salk was a show-off, also.