The Creators: A History of Heroes of the Imagination
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,History & Criticism
The Creators: A History of Heroes of the Imagination Details
Amazon.com Review Historian Daniel J. Boorstin brings his customary depth and range to this compelling book on Western art, taking on everything from European megaliths (Stonehenge, for example) to Benjamin Franklin's autobiography ("the first American addition to world literature"). Boorstin does not aim at being comprehensive--he much prefers to linger over certain "heroes of the imagination" as he surveys human accomplishment in the fields of architecture, music, painting, sculpting, and writing--yet The Creators certainly feels comprehensive, as Boorstin carefully places everything he describes within a grand tradition of aesthetic achievement. Boorstin knows that good history demands good writing, and his prose makes this big book easy to absorb. "This is a story," he writes, "of how creators in all the arts have enlarged, embellished, fantasized, and filigreed our experience"--an apt description of the role art plays in our life and an equally apt description of the way Boorstin interprets it for readers. (The Creators also is the second volume of a trilogy that starts with The Discoverers and concludes with The Seekers, although none of these books requires any knowledge of the others.) --John J. Miller Read more From Publishers Weekly Boorstin's companion volume to The Discoverers --a one-week PW bestseller and a BOMC main selection in cloth--chronicles 3000 years of artistic invention, while providing entertaining biographical profiles of Dante, Leonardo, Goethe, Ben Franklin, Picasso and dozens more. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. Read more Review "The capston to one of the greatest careers in the history of American intellectual endeavor. With The Creators, Boorstin enters the ranks of the 'heroes of the imagination.'" —George F. Will"A remarkable achievement an a pleasure to read." —The New York Times Book Review"There are few writers who could tackle so vast a subject with as much verve or self-assurance or infectious enthusiam as Boorstin. . . . He combines lively opinion a distinguished historian's erudition, with a first-class journalist's clarity and eye for the revealing anecdote . . . irresitible." —USA Today Read more From the Inside Flap he 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. Read more About the Author Daniel J. Boorstin was the author of The Americans, a trilogy (The Colonial Experience; The National Experience, and The Democratic Experience) that won the Francis Parkman Prize, the Bancroft Prize, and the Pulitzer Prize. In 1989, he received the National Book Award for lifetime contribution to literature. He was the director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, and for twelve years served as the Librarian of Congress. He died in 2004. Read more
Reviews
The author (Boorstin) was such a prolific writer that while being grilled by the Senate for confirmation as Librarian of Congress, he was asked if he would write during business hours. He said no, but wrote every evening, late into the nights, and I am grateful that he did so. This book and the others in this series have been around for a while, but the material covered is iconic, and will not go out of date. The organization is lucid, and segues nicely from chapter to chapter. I highly recommend this book and the entire series.
