Daniel J. Boorstin

 

Easton Press Daniel J. Boorstin books

The Americans - 1992 - 3 volume set including the following books :

The Colonial Experience

The National Experience

The Democratic Experience

Cleopatra's Nose: Essays on the Unexpected - signed first edition - 1995

3 Volume Daniel J. Boorstin set including the following books :

The Creators

The Seekers

The Discoverers

Franklin Library Daniel J. Boorstin books

Americans and the Democratic Experience - Pulitzer prize classic - 1987

 

 

 

Who is Daniel J. Boorstin?

Daniel J. Boorstin, born on October 1, 1914, in Atlanta, Georgia, was an American historian, educator, and prolific author whose works explored the intellectual and cultural history of the United States. His life and career were marked by a commitment to scholarship, public service, and the communication of knowledge to a broad audience. Boorstin's academic journey began at Harvard University, where he earned his bachelor's degree in 1934 and later completed a doctorate in history in 1940. His early interest in history and literature laid the foundation for his future pursuits in both academia and public life. During World War II, Boorstin served as a senior editor for the U.S. Army's news magazine, Yank, contributing to the war effort through his journalistic endeavors. After the war, he joined the University of Chicago as a faculty member, where he would go on to have a distinguished career as a historian and intellectual.

One of Boorstin's notable contributions to historical scholarship is his trilogy, The Americans, which includes The Colonial Experience (1958), The National Experience (1965), and The Democratic Experience (1973). The trilogy explores the development of American society, culture, and democracy from the colonial period to the 20th century, showcasing Boorstin's ability to synthesize complex historical narratives for a wide readership. In 1975, Daniel J. Boorstin was appointed as the Librarian of Congress, a position he held until 1987. During his tenure, he worked to make the Library of Congress more accessible to the public and played a key role in expanding its programs and services. In addition to his historical works, Boorstin authored several influential books, including The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America (1961), where he coined the term "pseudo-event" to describe events that are created for media consumption rather than arising organically.

 

The Discoverers by Daniel Boorstin

The Discoverers is a book first published in 1983, an American historian, professor, attorney, and author. The full title of the book is The Discoverers: A History of Man's Search to Know His World and Himself. In The Discoverers, Boorstin explores the history of human discovery and the quest for knowledge from ancient times to the present. The book is organized into several thematic sections, and it covers a wide range of topics, including scientific discoveries, geographical exploration, cultural innovations, and technological advances. Boorstin examines the ways in which individuals and societies have sought to understand and navigate their world. The Discoverers has been praised for its engaging writing style, extensive research, and its broad perspective on the human quest for knowledge. It's a comprehensive exploration of the curiosity and drive that have led people to explore the unknown, both in the physical world and in the realms of ideas and imagination.

Daniel J. Boorstin's writing was characterized by clarity, accessibility, and a deep appreciation for the intellectual development of the United States. His commitment to bridging the gap between scholarly research and public understanding earned him numerous accolades, including the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1974. Boorstin continued to contribute to intellectual discourse until his passing on February 28, 2004. His legacy endures not only through his written works but also through his efforts to promote a greater understanding of American history and culture among both scholars and the general public.

 

 

The Americans Series:

The Colonial Experience

In this brilliantly original book, written for the general reader, the American past becomes richly meaningful to the present.

The National Experience

This second volume in "The Americans" trilogy deals with the crucial period of American history from the Revolution to the Civil War. Here we meet the people who shaped, and were shaped by, the American experience the versatile New Englanders, the Transients and the Boosters.  Winner of the Francis Parkman Prize.

The Democratic Experience

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. A study of the last 100 years of American history.

Cleopatra's Nose - Essays on the Unexpected

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Discoverers demonstrates the truth behind the aphorism that if Cleopatra's nose had been shorter, the face of the world would have been changed. Boorstin goes on to uncover the elements of accident, improvisation and contradiction at the core of American institutions and beliefs.

The Creators - A History of Heroes of the Imagination

By piecing the lives of selected individuals into a grand mosaic, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Daniel J. Boorstin explores the development of artistic innovation over 3,000 years. A hugely ambitious chronicle of the arts that Boorstin delivers with the scope that made his Discoverers a national bestseller.
  Even as he tells the stories of such individual creators as Homer, Joyce, Giotto, Picasso, Handel, Wagner, and Virginia Woolf, Boorstin assembles them into a grand mosaic of aesthetic and intellectual invention.  In the process he tells us not only how great art (and great architecture and philosophy) is created, but where it comes from and how it has shaped and mirrored societies from Vedic India to the twentieth-century United States.

The Seekers - The Story of Man's Continuing Quest to Understand His World

From the time of Socrates to today, humans have sought the answers to fundamental questions: Who are we? Why are we here? Previous bestsellers, The Discoverers & The Creators, told how we discovered the reality of our world, then celebrated artistic achievements. Boorstin now turns to the great figures in history who sought meaning & purpose in existence. He says Western culture has seen three grand epics of Seeking. There was 1st the heroic way of prophets & philosophers men like Moses, Job, Socrates, Plato & Aristotle, as well as those in the communities of the early church & the Protestant Reformation seeking salvation or truth from the god above or the reason within everyone. Then came an age of communal seeking, with people like Thucydides & Thomas More, Machiavelli & Voltaire pursuing civilization & the liberal spirit. Finally, there was an age of the social sciences, when man seemed ruled by the forces of history. Here are the stories of exceptional men such as Marx, Spengler, Toynbee, Carlyle, Emerson, Malraux, Bergson & Einstein. These thinkers still have the power to speak to us, not always so much for their answers as for their way of asking the questions that intrigue or obsess. This climax to his trilogy again shows Boorstin's ability to present challenging ideas coupled with sharp portraits of great writers & thinkers.

The Discoverers - A History of Man's Search to Know His World and Himself

An original history of man's greatest adventure: his search to discover the world around him.