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A History of the United States
American history is the story of magic transformation. How did people from everywhere join the American family? How did men and women from tired Old World, where people thought they knew what to expect, become wide-eyed exploreres of a New World?
Our history is the story of these millions in search of what it means to be an American. In the Old World people knew quite definitely whether they were English, French, or Spanish. But here is took time for them to discover that they really were Americans.
What does it mean to be an American? To answer that questions we must shake hands with our earlier selves and try to become acquainted. We must discover what puzzled and interested and troubled earlier Americans.
What has been especially American about out ways of living and earning a living? Our ways of making war and making peace? Our ways of thinking and hoping and fearing, of worshiping God and fighting the Devil? Our ways of traveling and politicking, or importing people, of building houses and cities? These are some of the questions we try to answer in this book.
Discoving America is a way of discovering outselves. This is a book about us.
-Prologue
Our history is the story of these millions in search of what it means to be an American. In the Old World people knew quite definitely whether they were English, French, or Spanish. But here is took time for them to discover that they really were Americans.
What does it mean to be an American? To answer that questions we must shake hands with our earlier selves and try to become acquainted. We must discover what puzzled and interested and troubled earlier Americans.
What has been especially American about out ways of living and earning a living? Our ways of making war and making peace? Our ways of thinking and hoping and fearing, of worshiping God and fighting the Devil? Our ways of traveling and politicking, or importing people, of building houses and cities? These are some of the questions we try to answer in this book.
Discoving America is a way of discovering outselves. This is a book about us.
-Prologue
891 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1981
2 people are currently reading
119 people want to read
About the author
Daniel J. Boorstin
204 books384 followersDaniel Joseph Boorstin was a historian, professor, attorney, and writer. He was appointed twelfth Librarian of the United States Congress from 1975 until 1987.
He graduated from Tulsa's Central High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the age of 15. He graduated with highest honors from Harvard, studied at Balliol College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and earned his PhD at Yale University. He was a lawyer and a university professor at the University of Chicago for 25 years. He also served as director of the National Museum of History and Technology of the Smithsonian Institution.
His The Americans The Democratic Experience received the 1974 Pulitzer Prize in history.
Within the discipline of social theory, Boorstin’s 1961 book The Image A Guide to Pseudo-events in America is an early description of aspects of American life that were later termed hyperreality and postmodernity. In The Image, Boorstin describes shifts in American culture—mainly due to advertising—where the reproduction or simulation of an event becomes more important or "real" than the event itself. He goes on to coin the term pseudo-event which describes events or activities that serve little to no purpose other than to be reproduced through advertisements or other forms of publicity. The idea of pseudo-events closely mirrors work later done by Jean Baudrillard and Guy Debord. The work is still often used as a text in American sociology courses.
When President Gerald Ford nominated Boorstin to be Librarian of Congress, the nomination was supported by the Authors League of America but opposed by the American Library Association because Boorstin "was not a library administrator." The Senate confirmed the nomination without debate.
Boorstin died in 2004 in Washington, D.C.
He graduated from Tulsa's Central High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the age of 15. He graduated with highest honors from Harvard, studied at Balliol College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and earned his PhD at Yale University. He was a lawyer and a university professor at the University of Chicago for 25 years. He also served as director of the National Museum of History and Technology of the Smithsonian Institution.
His The Americans The Democratic Experience received the 1974 Pulitzer Prize in history.
Within the discipline of social theory, Boorstin’s 1961 book The Image A Guide to Pseudo-events in America is an early description of aspects of American life that were later termed hyperreality and postmodernity. In The Image, Boorstin describes shifts in American culture—mainly due to advertising—where the reproduction or simulation of an event becomes more important or "real" than the event itself. He goes on to coin the term pseudo-event which describes events or activities that serve little to no purpose other than to be reproduced through advertisements or other forms of publicity. The idea of pseudo-events closely mirrors work later done by Jean Baudrillard and Guy Debord. The work is still often used as a text in American sociology courses.
When President Gerald Ford nominated Boorstin to be Librarian of Congress, the nomination was supported by the Authors League of America but opposed by the American Library Association because Boorstin "was not a library administrator." The Senate confirmed the nomination without debate.
Boorstin died in 2004 in Washington, D.C.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 8, 2024
Very nicely written book.
April 24, 2023
This is as good of a middle school history book as you're going to find.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews