Daniel Boorstin (1914–2004)

This is a vast selection from the author books, "Americans", "Creators", "Discoverers" and "Essays". I think this is the first time I've read Boorstin, probably because as even he considers himself an 'amateur', he is not a darling of the history professors. In several ways, Boosrtin reminds me of Wilson, a genius with the language, sentence structure and clarity, but a bit of a gadfly with topics and no agenda, except, perhaps, commonsense. I came away with some fascinating insights with chapters like 'Wanted: A Philosophy of the Unexpected', 'How Orthodoxy Made the Puritans Practical', 'How Quakers Misjudged the Indians', 'The Mythologizing of George Washington', 'The Wee: Gateway to Science, 'Priority Becomes the Priize', 'Paths to Evolution'. 'The Discovery of Prehsitory', 'Castles of Eternity', 'A Wrestler with the Angel', 'Self-Liquidating Ideals', 'Extravagant Expectations', and my two favorites, 'The Fertile Verge' and 'The Age of Negative Discovery'. A totally refreshing way to examine important and unimportant issues.… (mehr)

Amazingly, I had never read Boorstin before this. Lucid writer, reminding me very much of Edmund Wilson, only in history. Boosrtin is proud of calling himsef an amature historian, instead of a professor. Clever, and often brilliant, approaches to many facets of history, such as "How the Quakers Misjudged the Indians", "The Fluidity of Professions", "Culture by the Book", "Mythologizing of George Washinton" and "Age of Negative Discovery". This reader was edited to reflect the best contents of his well-known books.… (mehr)