Customer Reviews

The Creators: A History of Heroes of the Imagination

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I am totally dissatisfied with most reviews of this book. I think most of that people did not understand what the book is all about. Boorstin traces, wonderfully, in my opinion, the history of the individual as a creator of original and personal ways to see and interpret the world. Of course, he had to focus on the Western culture. I am amazed to read politically correct people enraged about Boorstin's supposed "trashing" of non-Western cultures, something I definitely didn't find in the book. He describes exactly why it was the Western culture the one that allowed the individual to become a real creator, not just a fine artisan. He never says Western culture is "better", only different in that it produced the only way to be an artist: be an individual (for good and bad). And he is right. The book is fascinating in the way it describes the rise of the individual. Of course, the path he chose could have been different. But it's very illustrative. The book can not be boring. It shows exactly the kind of geniuses that created art. Most of them, by the way, lived difficult and often tragic lives. I recommend it to every one interested in finding out how and why modern art was born and developed. Besides, it is full of interesting, even funny, anecdotes about the lives of the creators. If you read it, it will be the best stimulus to see, read, and listen to some of the most important creations of humankind.

The Creators by Daniel Boorstin is an excellant read. This book was more reader friendly then The Discoverers and just as well researched. As Boorstin does in the Discoverers, each chapter tells the life story of an artist/musician/architech and while doing this goes in depth on this person's works.

The areas of focus for this book are:
1. "The Riddle of Creation" (creation stories in differant cultures)
a. Worlds without beginnings (eastern religions)
b. A creator-god (mostly western religions)
2."Creator Man" (stone age through middle ages)
a. The Power of Stone (early monuments)
b. The Magic of Images (writing)
c. The Immortal Word (the first books)
3."Re-Creating the World" (middle ages to 1920's)
a. Otherworldly Elements (religous art)
b. The Human Comedy (books of the late middle ages to more modern books)
c. From Craftsman to Artist (Paintings)
d. Conjuring with time and space (light, buildings, etc.)
4. "Creating the self" (modern times)
a. The Vanguard Word (famous books)
b. The Wilderness Within (authors and painters who excluded themselves from society)

These differant areas cover the main areas of the arts through the ages.

The only problem with this book was the music sections. For some one with no musical experiance, the book was a little over my head. This is about 50-100 pages of the book.

I would suggest this book to others.

I have completed "The Creators" Heros of the Imagination by Daniel Boorstein. One of the three in a series. The other two are, "The Discoverers" and "The Seekers" Though my copy is beaten up and falling apart, I recommend this book to any inquisitive mind who thinks that they lost out on a classical education. My reading of the book took well over a year, in little reads here and there, when I could. Absolutely jam packed with useful information about the stuff that I didn't learn in my US public schooling. Well written for covering over 2000 years of history and the creative artists, writers, musicians, etc. and other influential people of the period.

Sometimes I had to set with a dictionary open and ready, just to get through the sections, especially the part on Greek temple construction. The reading of this book helped me to appreciate more of what I've seen in Rome, Italy and elsewhere on my trips. The sections on Dante, Giotto, Shakespeare, Goethe, Verdi, Wagner, Beethoven, Voltaire, Dickens, Sartre, Kafka and others were very revealing and stuff that I had never been made aware of. Everything in the US has been tremendously influenced by Europe and before that by the Greeks and the Romans. Nothing is new, the Romans made concrete 2000 years ago.

Daniel Boorstin makes no apology for being a Jewish liberal in the classical Western sense. In fact he states that he sees history from a "Euro-centric" perspective, which, after all only makes sense since that is his and our heritage. He is writing a book for mainly Americans about the history of creation. It is the 2nd of the "Knowledge Trilogy": The Discoverers, this book and "The Seekers".

If the Discoverers covered the searching mind then the Creators is a study of the searching soul. Covering topics as far apart as music, art, poetry, religion, architecture, literature, psychology and science, he skillfully reviews the history of man's search for himself. His quirky yet factual tidbits of history enlighten the story of (mainly) Western culture although he does examine aspects of other cultures. If you are a person interested in all things human then this is the book for you.

The Creators has been criticized for its so-called "Western" outlook as if that automatically made the work suspect. Why is the European viewpoint less worthy than say, an Arab viewpoint? The West has profoundly affected the world - and continues to do so today - unlike any other culture with such ideas as liberty, democracy, pluralism and individualism. And what kind of person denigrates their own culture for no other reason than its trendy to do so? This is a magnificent work that will keep you enthralled for days. Get it now

Boorstin's amazing series about the greatest achievers in the human species continues in this superlative volume. While I loved his previous works, this one is easily my favorite, because it shows how the arts, especially literature, rank as humankind's grandest accomplishment: our species' proudest step away from its beastly nature and into the realm of creator. I am convinced that no other living person could examine these rarefied figures (Dante, Shakespeare, Michelangelo, others) and give us quite the same sort of overview. I love how Daniel Boorstin reasons. He is one of the great thinkers of this time, and this is him at his finest.

This is an outatanding selection for anyone who wants to understand little more about how we came to be who we are today. A stong background in history is not required, as Boorstin is a wizard when it comes to boiling a complex subject down to its bare essentials. I couldn't put it down.

I've recently completed the audio book of The Creators, from Books on Tape. The 747 pages of copy takes a little over 40 hours to hear. Boorstin's work, while not exhaustive, provides a relatively easy way to become acquainted with much of the art, especially Western art, of mankind. Even anyone steeped in history will find something new in this work, something that may have escaped notice in other efforts. While some regard history as a dry rehearsal of facts, Boorstin seems to put things into a perspective of freshness, one in which a reader can walk anew in the steps of those grand figures of years past. There may be no practical value in knowing all these things but knowing will add to a person's appreciation for things, like music, painting, literature and the rest. This effort, like the others from Boorstin's pen, is worthwhile and will long benefit the reading public.

Need a crash course in world civilization? Boorstin delivers awonderful message of over 10,000 years of human accomplishments. Hisdetail of the human experience is direct and uncomplicated. "TheCreators" is the first in a masterfully done trilogy, which in addition includes "The Discovers" and the "The Seekers". Boorstin enables us to enjoy a detailed overview of the current civilization occupying the third planet from the sun.

Boorstin is well- intentioned, serious, tremendously knowledgable. He knows how to choose interesting topics for his work. A history of the heroes of the imagination sounds extremely interesting. The problem is that Boorstin writes with a dry flatness perhaps better suited to chronicling minor inventions of Americans changing everyday life, than great geniuses. I truly looked forward to this work but read it with a certain disappointment. And this when I admire Boorstin and know him to be one of the finest American historians.

Here comes a guy who really enjoys books and mankind. With infinite patience he manages to accomplish a tour-de-force of western greates legacy: art through its varios manifestations.
If you have just heard of Aeschylus, Dante, Michelangelo and Bach I think it's time to get to know your cultural heritage better. It's a pretty long book albeit very amusing. Keep it beside your bed and have a nice trip!