Boorstin, Dead at 89, Foresaw Media Shifts

[Khephra]

NEW YORK -- The weekend death of award-winning historian and social critic Daniel J. Boorstin came in a world he had largely predicted, and feared: News of his passing was reported quickly, electronically, by media outlets in business around the clock. His death, at age 89, was unlikely to capture a fraction of the attention of Sunday night's Academy Awards.

Winner in 1974 of the Pulitzer Prize for "The Americans: The Democratic Experience," Boorstin wrote political history, cultural history, creative history and what deserved to be called popular history. He wrote about the evolution of clocks, where elevators were first used and why the Chinese didn't discover America. His books sold millions of copies and were translated into more than 20 languages.

But his most influential work was "The Image," published in 1962. Years before such concerns were common, Boorstin wrote that the combination of mass media and corporate power had transformed the "language of ideals" into the "language of images." News had become dominated by public relations, by "pseudo-events" staged for the sake of being reported. Our heroes were celebrities, people famous for being famous.

"To me, 'The Image' is one of the most prescient and important books of the last 50 years," says Neal Gabler, author of "Life: The Movie," published in 1998, and a frequent commentator on media and culture.

more.................

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-boorstin-tribute,0,4699652.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines

[KoKo]

1. hmmm......looks like the quote in your snip about "language of ideals"

into "language of images," and "news ...dominated by public relations...pseudo-events" were the best thing he ever said. When I saw your post and saw his name, an alarm went off somewhere in my head. I was too young to have been a reader of his earlier works, but that he named folks as being Communists in front of the McCarthy hearings makes me feel he was the kind of person who gets one thing right in his observations about life but throws it all away for ideology. Can't say he's the kind of person I would mourn for, although maybe he had some redeeming qualities. :-(

[Khephra]

2. I can't say that I know much about him

But I was sure someone here would be interested in the news of his passing.

[mobuto]

3. Boorstin's book, "The Discoverers"

is really bad. Its badly written, poorly argued, and filled with rather extraordinary omissions. May the man rest in peace.

[Wink]

4. I've read several of his books

And am reading one called "The Democratic Experience". I'm not one for detailed history books but his are enjoyable enough to plough through. Very small type and hundreds of pages. They are a tough read.

[baby_bear]

5. He was an eclectic man

The very best thing he did was to transform the Library of Congress. He opened it up to the American people. If he did nothing else, that was monumental.

And if you didn't like "The Discoverers," try "The Americans," his first trilogy.

I know there are things about Boorstin, probably for the most part, his willingness to testify before HUAC and name names, that remain despicable to many of us here. He was no friend of anti-war demonstrators in the 60s, either.

But he revered and loved books. And he wanted everyone to have access to them.

I just want people to realize he was a complex person.

s_m

[utopian]

6. I was just telling my wife about him today.

How sad. But he lived a long life, and he left a great legacy.

[Merlin]

7. His Oxford History of the American People was great. Used hippie quotes...

One of the ways he portrayed the tenor of the times and the feelings of the anti-war movement of the late 60s and early 70s, for example, was by printing the lyrics of Country Joe and the Fish's Fixin To Die Rag. (Country Joe is forbidden to play it today because the tune was borrowed from Muskrat Ramble, but you can hear it at: http://www.countryjoe.com/rag.htm )


D
Come on all of you big strong men,
G
Uncle Sam needs your help again.
D
He's got himself in a terrible jam
G
Way down yonder in Vietnam
E7 A
So put down your books and pick up a gun,
D G
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun.

Chorus:
A7 A#7 D
And it's one, two, three,
D7 G
What are we fighting for?
D
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
G
Next stop is Vietnam;
A7 A#7 D
And it's five, six, seven,
D7 G
Open up the pearly gates,
E A
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
D G
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

[PurityOfEssence]

8. How sad; a truly significant and original thinker

"The Image" should be on everyone's reading list. He was a man of letters in the grand old tradition, and a great bulwark of culture.

He will be well remembered, and his works will live on.