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The Image

A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America

Author Daniel J. Boorstin
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Paperback
$18.00 US
Knopf | Vintage
On sale Sep 01, 1992 | 336 Pages | 9780679741800
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First published in 1962, Boorstin’s prophetic vision of an America inundated by its own illusions introduced the notion of “pseudo-events” —events such as press conferences and presidential debates, which are manufactured solely in order to be reported—and the contemporary definition of “celebrity” as “a person who is known for his well-knownness.” Includes a new Foreword by the author and an Afterword by George F. Will.

“An engrossing book—sensitive, thoughtful, damning, dead on target and in most respects unanswerable.” —Scientific American

“Entertaining, acute, stimulating, timely, and intelligent. . . . A brilliant polemic about a very real problem.” —Saturday Review

“Excellent. . . . It is the book to end all books about ‘the American Image’—what it is, who projects it, what effect it has at home or abroad.” —The Observer
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. View titles by Daniel J. Boorstin

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First published in 1962, Boorstin’s prophetic vision of an America inundated by its own illusions introduced the notion of “pseudo-events” —events such as press conferences and presidential debates, which are manufactured solely in order to be reported—and the contemporary definition of “celebrity” as “a person who is known for his well-knownness.” Includes a new Foreword by the author and an Afterword by George F. Will.

“An engrossing book—sensitive, thoughtful, damning, dead on target and in most respects unanswerable.” —Scientific American

“Entertaining, acute, stimulating, timely, and intelligent. . . . A brilliant polemic about a very real problem.” —Saturday Review

“Excellent. . . . It is the book to end all books about ‘the American Image’—what it is, who projects it, what effect it has at home or abroad.” —The Observer

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. View titles by Daniel J. Boorstin

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