Synopses & Reviews
In this provocative new collection, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Daniel J. Boorstin explores the essential "hidden history" of the American experience that is overlooked by most historians. In twenty-four essays -- divided into five sections, "The Quest for History," "A By-Product Nation," "The Rhetoric of Democracy," "Unsung Experiments," and "The Momentum of Technology" -- Daniel J. Boorstin examines significant rhythms, patterns, and institutions of everyday American life: from his intimate portraits of such legendary figures as Paul Revere, Abigail Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, to more expansive discussions of historical phenomena, such as the Therapy of Distance and the Law of Survival of the Unread.
Review
"America's greatest living historian uses the occasion of his recent retirement as the Librarian of Congress to regale us with a gourmet feast of intellectual soul food. It is a gift of 24 essays, previously published but newly edited by the author and his wife, written in his incisive, erudite, and yet highly readable fashion, on people and
events in our past, in the fervent wish that they will help us to understand and enrich our future." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)