Customer Reviews

The Americans: The Democratic Experience (V3)

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Aside from the fact that Daniel Boorstin writes with real grace, which makes this final volume in his trilogy about American life a pleasure to read, it is filled with a consideration of subjects that you most likely never thought about as being part of "American history"--at least as it's taught in school--yet these are the events and the people who made the world we actually LIVE in: the businessmen and idea people who created the mail-order catalogue, the department store, the oil industry, and even the divorce industry, which played a surprising commercial role in the American west. Boorstin tells about people whose names have become household words (like Sears & Roebuck, or Dunn & Bradstreet)and how their ideas helped build the country and the life we know today; he tells about the cattle drives and the range wars; about inventions, and business, and how the democratization of shopping in the big department stores was a quintessentially American development. Every chapter has its fascination for the reader--at least for THIS reader. Ideas or practices that I simply accepted as "the way things are" prove often to be unique American inventions, and knowing this helps us know more about who we are, and why we are seen as different from the rest of the world (even as they start to copy us in so many ways).

Many have described Boorstin's "The Americans" series as being right-wing. I do not concur. He writes about a period, in reality our age, as if it is still happening because it is. The third and final book in the series shows that he is unsure if the changes from the Civil War to the present day have not all been for the betterment of mankind. Although written three decades ago, I would say that this book is more relevant than ever. I think that everyone should read "The Americans" series. There is a bit more of Boorstin's curmugeony personality in this last book, but don't let that disuade you from enjoying a very complex perspective of America in the Twentieth Century and, very possibly, the Twenty-First Century.

There is one idea of Boorstin that seems to me to explain a tremendous amount about American civilization. He claims that it is by small improvements in life, by the power of invention which made life better bit by bit American civilization moved ahead. Emerson's ' better mousetrap which all beat their way to the inventor's door to get'is Boorstin's key to American greatness.

This work is filled with tremendous insight and knowledge into American reality.

I'm a foreign student studying in this country for awhile. I have read a Chinese version of this book, and have been so eager to find an original one. Now I got it from Amazon for 10 bucks. By comparing them not only did I find the fun of learning English, but also learned a true scroll of American history, which helped me understand the democratic value and social development of this country.

Not the regular history book, rather an intra-history: a history of America made by individuals, not by lords, kings, or dictators. It covers the stories of many American go-getters, from the 1880's to 1970, who made possible inventions that are today part of our daily lives: from packaging, automobiles, communications, to the moon-landing and the atom bomb. It covers so many aspects of America's popular culture, consumption, technology, education philosophies, that it lacks focus.

A microcosm of America.

You may be interested in some stories here, but there are many more that -probably- you won't care at all for. A pity, Mr. Boorstin knows how to write well, but this is almost like reading an encyclopedia.

While Boorstin won the Pulitzer Prize for this book, it's odd that he plays loose with the facts. He absolutely is a gifted storyteller, but sad to say, that sometimes comes at the expense of historical accuracy. Do not rely on his account of facts as the end of the story. Read other writers, compare, and get a broader perspective on the era. Boorstin's weakness is that once he comes up with a theme, in this case, democracy, he edits the facts to fit with his preconceived storyline. That keeps a book interesting, but it doesn't necessary describe reality. Life is messy.

Another assumption that creeps in is that the author assumes everyone is as materialistic as he is. He attributes motives to people that may not have been present. Boorstin was in an affluent society. The era he writes about was not as prosperous. His assumptions blind him to historical context. Overall this book is an interesting read, I'm just not convinced of the validity.

Boorstin has created an unforgettable story. 'This 3rd part of a 3-book sequence is probably the best of the 3. 'The Americans' is both scholarly in detail and as readable as any Big Picture book on American culture. I especially was influenced by the chapters on Statistical Communities, Consumer Communities, and the many stories on American invention & ingenuity.

The chapter on 'mass-producing the moment' is a historical introduction to how media & Madison Ave. manipulate so much of contemporary American life: who we vote for and why we vote for them, what we buy, how we get & interpret news & current events. Boorstin wrote another book, 'The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-events in America' (1962), which warns propheticly of a serious domestic threat to American democratic ideals. He rehashed its ideas in this chapter of 'The Americans'. It is an idea worth re-emphasizing. How did Americans allow ourselves to be manipulated to such a degree? More contemporary European writers like Baudrillard have taken Boorstin's insight to post-modern rhetorical heights.
But America is a remarkably resilient society...

Note: Many academic-left historians claim that Boorstin has glorified American culture and is a darling of right-wingers. While this may be somewhat true, it is more likely that America's intellectual left has never forgiven Boorstin for a serious youthful mistake. When confronted by Sen. Joe McCarthy, Roy Cohn, Nixon and the 'Red Scare' House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA) of the 1950s, Boorstin chose to name 'names' of his leftist friends. Less scholarly but stronger personalities like Lillian Hellman, (author of 'Pentimento', basis for movie, 'Julia'), & Dashiell Hammett,('Maltese Falcon' author), told the HCUA to go to hell -- Hammett did jail time, but Hellman's testimony was the turning point that broke Sen McCarthy & his one-issue inquisitors. Even years later, Hellman stubbornly refused to admit the atrocities of Stalin.

This is mostly a collection of mini-histories of the various American businesses and inventions that arose after the Civil War, which are often hugely fascinating on a purely factual level. Boorstin's big argument is that American life became more and more unmoored to local places and common bodies of knowledge, resulting in a disorienting and dispiriting world of mass marketing and suburbs, with gadgets that worked in ways no one can understand. There is a right-wing drift to his ideas, but the sureness of his opinions is nice to hear even if you don't agree.

The author takes the reader to the heart of history; the people. He finds the people who may be obscure but their role in the story he tells serve to make us realize their really is an American spirit. Kudos to Boorstin and the people he portrays

The book itself is very interesting and mind-opening. But in some parts it is too estensive and repetitive, which makes it too long. Anyhow it is enlightening and worth-while reading.