Word: boorstin
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...answers could be found there on just what to do with these famous fellows. Keynoter Daniel Boorstin, former Librarian of Congress, suggested creating "a House of Experience," like the British House of Lords, where retired, talented Americans could offer their wisdom. Public television's pragmatic Roger Mudd pointed out that the last thing a new President would welcome would be an official pulpit for the guy he just ran out of office...
Despite her indignation, Himmelfarb does not want to suppress these new forms; what she opposes is their domination of the profession. Part of the profession, anyway: in the publishing marketplace, traditional history still fares quite well. In the work of historians as diverse as, say, Daniel Boorstin and Barbara Tuchman, the traditional practices of storytelling, political analysis and moral judgment are all flourishing. But if the fads of the new history continue to blight the academic scene, Himmelfarb argues, we will be threatened with a profound loss: "We will lose not only the unifying theme that has given coherence...
...course -- because the joint is bound to be packed with publicists, photo opportunists and blaring life-stylists. The manufacture of quick and disposable illusions is an overwhelming reality in an era when the concept of image is replacing the value of reputation. What Historian Daniel J. Boorstin called pseudo events 25 fleeting years ago are now accepted as genuine occurrences that shape politics, economics, culture and the way individuals experience the world or, more important, choose...
...Boorstin, the keen-minded Librarian of Congress who sits atop Capitol Hill and watches the drama below, talks about the "cleansing effect of Washington." The old city, given enough time, knocks common sense into cockeyed theories, rounds the corners of sharp practices, and finally forces almost every leader who is successful to heed the sound counsel of history...
LANGUAGE AS A sign of class--a la George Bernard Shaw's Eliza Doolittle--is contrary to American traditions. Colonial Americans, notes historian Daniel Boorstin, prided themselves on the almost universal use of proper grammar. There were no discernible differences in patois between rich and poor. Unlike their British cousins who developed the language, Americans did not have to look to the upper crust for guidance on the proper use of the King's English. We have traditionally had to look no farther than our neighbors. Now, if we ask to see our neighbor, his son might reply...