or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
Express Checkout with PayPhrase
What's this? | Create PayPhrase
More Buying Choices
184 used & new from $0.70
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
The Creators: A History of Heroes of the Imagination
 
 
See all product images
See 1 customer image
Share your own customer images
Look inside this book
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.
 
  

The Creators: A History of Heroes of the Imagination (Paperback)

~ (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
List Price: $20.00
Price: $13.60 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $6.40 (32%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Want it delivered Monday, November 23? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
39 new from $9.13 140 used from $0.70 5 collectible from $15.00

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
  Hardcover, September 7, 1992 -- $4.59 $0.40
  Paperback, September 27, 1993 $13.60 $9.13 $0.70
  Audio, Cassette, August 31, 1992 $18.96 $17.06 $4.14
  Audio, Download Offsite Link $13.10 or less with new Audible membership

Best Value

Buy The Creators: A History of Heroes of the Imagination and get Our Town: A Heartland Lynching, a Haunted Town, and the Hidden History of White America at an additional 5% off Amazon.com's everyday low price.

The Creators: A History of Heroes of the Imagination + Our Town: A Heartland Lynching, a Haunted Town, and the Hidden History of White America
Buy Together Today: $27.80

Show availability and shipping details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Seekers: The Story of Man's Continuing Quest to Understand His World

The Seekers: The Story of Man's Continuing Quest to Understand His World

by Daniel J. Boorstin
3.3 out of 5 stars (32)  $10.85
The Discoverers

The Discoverers

by Daniel J. Boorstin
4.5 out of 5 stars (82)  $12.89
The Americans: The Democratic Experience

The Americans: The Democratic Experience

by Daniel J. Boorstin
4.5 out of 5 stars (10)  $14.96
The Americans: The National Experience

The Americans: The National Experience

by Daniel J. Boorstin
4.7 out of 5 stars (7)  $13.46
The Americans: The Colonial Experience

The Americans: The Colonial Experience

by Daniel J. Boorstin
4.1 out of 5 stars (15)  $11.53
› Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Historian Daniel J. Boorstin brings his customary depth and range to this compelling book on Western art, taking on everything from European megaliths (Stonehenge, for example) to Benjamin Franklin's autobiography ("the first American addition to world literature"). Boorstin does not aim at being comprehensive--he much prefers to linger over certain "heroes of the imagination" as he surveys human accomplishment in the fields of architecture, music, painting, sculpting, and writing--yet The Creators certainly feels comprehensive, as Boorstin carefully places everything he describes within a grand tradition of aesthetic achievement.

Boorstin knows that good history demands good writing, and his prose makes this big book easy to absorb. "This is a story," he writes, "of how creators in all the arts have enlarged, embellished, fantasized, and filigreed our experience"--an apt description of the role art plays in our life and an equally apt description of the way Boorstin interprets it for readers. (The Creators also is the second volume of a trilogy that starts with The Discoverers and concludes with The Seekers, although none of these books requires any knowledge of the others.) --John J. Miller



From Publishers Weekly

Boorstin's companion volume to The Discoverers --a one-week PW bestseller and a BOMC main selection in cloth--chronicles 3000 years of artistic invention, while providing entertaining biographical profiles of Dante, Leonardo, Goethe, Ben Franklin, Picasso and dozens more.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Paperback: 832 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage (September 28, 1993)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0679743758
  • ISBN-13: 978-0679743750
  • Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 1.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #31,901 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

Daniel J. Boorstin
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Daniel J. Boorstin Page
Look Inside This Book
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover
Citations (learn more)
25 books cite this book:
See all 25 books citing this book

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Creators: A History of Heroes of the Imagination
84% buy the item featured on this page:
The Creators: A History of Heroes of the Imagination 4.1 out of 5 stars (33)
$13.60
The Discoverers
9% buy
The Discoverers 4.5 out of 5 stars (82)
$12.89
The Seekers: The Story of Man's Continuing Quest to Understand His World
3% buy
The Seekers: The Story of Man's Continuing Quest to Understand His World 3.3 out of 5 stars (32)
$10.85
The Americans: The Colonial Experience
3% buy
The Americans: The Colonial Experience 4.1 out of 5 stars (15)
$11.53
Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(6)
(5)
(4)
(4)
(3)
(3)
(2)
(2)
Agree with these tags?

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more
 

Customer Reviews

33 Reviews
5 star:
 (18)
4 star:
 (7)
3 star:
 (4)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (33 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
47 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars It is about the individual as a creator, September 8, 2000
By Guillermo Maynez (Mexico, Distrito Federal Mexico) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
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.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars The Discoverers for the more artistically minded, June 15, 2006
By Joseph M (Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews
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.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The "Cliff Notes" of 2000 years of Western Art History, April 3, 2002
By A Customer
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.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
I am completely satisfied with this product and for the price I paid, happy with the purchase.
Published 3 months ago by Tamekia Sanders

5.0 out of 5 stars The Creators: A History of Heroes of the Imagination
My first experience of buying textbooks on line. Very good experience. Delivery was timely and the book is in great shape.
Published 4 months ago by P. Quinnan

5.0 out of 5 stars Full of information on great minds of the past
This book has been very interesting. It covers Greek, Roman, Japanese,and Italian influences. The author is objective about how the different artists are portrayed. Read more
Published 6 months ago by dirtbike girl

5.0 out of 5 stars High quality
Great product. Found detail about the book great and was enough information for what I needed to know. Received the book in time and found to be good quality.
Published 17 months ago by Carolyn Woodhall

5.0 out of 5 stars A splendid distillation of a liberal education
Question: I read well enough, but don't feel all that well educated. I am too busy or too broke to take college
classes in the evening or whatever. Read more
Published on November 23, 2006 by galloamericanus

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the greats
Most books I read, I think, are on an intellectual level commensurate with my own. Usually I think, "I could probably write this, if I took the time to learn enough. Read more
Published on May 21, 2006 by AlabamaGene

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have!
I read "The Creators" years ago as a teenager and rediscovered it when cleaning out the old book chest. I highly suggest opening ones mind with this work. Read more
Published on February 11, 2006 by John Bottcher

5.0 out of 5 stars Explores Great Minds From The Arts
Boorstin's amazing series about the greatest achievers in the human species continues in this superlative volume. Read more
Published on December 20, 2005 by Penny Dreadful

4.0 out of 5 stars If only there were more fire
Boorstin is well- intentioned, serious, tremendously knowledgable. He knows how to choose interesting topics for his work. Read more
Published on November 10, 2004 by Shalom Freedman

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating survey of creativity--with a despairing end
Another excellent book by Boorstin as he surveys the development of creative activity. Especially interesting was his tracing of drama and music to its ancient Greek roots. Read more
Published on May 6, 2004 by Steve Fast

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   

Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)

Look for Similar Items by Category

Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:


















i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...
 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.