Zinn in Concert

Pearl Jam, my favorite band, has very generously been releasing official bootlegs of all it's shows. While listening to the marathon July 11 show (in an effort to play every song in their repertoire, they had three shows in Boston, and played an extra pre-show acoustic set on the July 11), I came upon this shout out during "Down":

This is for Howard Zinn.

Uh huh. Turns out the lyrics include "You can't be neutral on a moving train," the title of one of Zinn's books. I've never read anything by Zinn, but have to admit quite a bit of skepticism. Anyone have anything to say about him? (I know you do!)