The Multiple Personalities of Daniel J. Boorstin: A Third Image Analysis

Authors

  • Michael A. Meagher

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15763/issn.2374-7781.1994.15.0.461-480

Abstract

This article presents a new interpretation of Boorstin's political thought. I contend that there are three Daniel J. Boorstins. and that the third image represents the core of Boorstin's political thought. The third image centers on Boorstin's insistence that an essence guides and directs American politics and thought. Boorstin terms his version of essence "givenness." According to Boorstin, essence, or "givenness," was assigned to America by a Supreme Being. While Louis Hartz bases his concept of "irrational Lockeanism" in the thought of a social contract theorist. Daniel Boorstin bases his notion in the essence of God.

References

Beck, Kent M. 1987. What Was Liberalism in the 1950s? Political Science Quarterly 102: 233-258. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2151351

Beitzinger, A.J. nd. A History o f American Political Thought. Charlottesville, VA: Ibis Publishing.

Bell, Daniel. 1960. The End o f Ideology: On the Exhaustion o f Political Ideas in the Fifties. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Boorstin, Daniel J. 1953. The Genius o f American Politics. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.

________. 1955. Book review of The Liberal Tradition in America, by Louis Hartz. Commentary 20: 99-100.

________. 1960. America and the Image o f Europe: Reflections on American Thought. New York: Meridian Books.

________. 1965. The Americans: The National Experience. New York: Random House.

________. 1975. The Exploring Spirit: America and the World Experience. London: British Broadcasting Corporation.

________. 1983. The Discoverers. New York: Random House.

________. 1992. The Creators: A History of Heroes of the Imagination. New York: Random House.

Diggins, John Patrick. 1971a. Consciousness and Ideology in American History: The Burden of Daniel J. Brstin. American Historical Review 76: 99-118. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1869778

________. 1971b. The Perils of Naturalism: Some Reflections on Daniel J. Boorstin. American Quarterly 28: 153-180.

________. 1988. Knowledge and Sorrow: Louis Hartz's Quarrel with American History. Political Theory 16: 355-376. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0090591788016003001

Fowler. Robert Booth. 1978. Believing Skeptics: American Political Intellectuals, 1945-1964. Westport. CN: Greenwood Press.

________. 1991. The Dance with Community: The Contemporary Debate in American Political Thought. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.

Hartz. Louis. 1955. The Liberal Tradition in America: An Interpretation of American Political Thought Since the Revolution. New York: Harcourt.

Higham. John. 1959. The Cult of the "American Consensus': Homogenizing Our Century. Commentary 27: 93-100.

Kirk. Russell. 1974. The Roots of American Order. LaSalle, IL: Open Court.

Lutz, Donald S. 1992. A Preface to American Political Theory. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.

Matusow, Allen J. 1984. The Unraveling of America: A History of Liberalism in the 1960s. New York: Harper Collins.

Morton, Marian J. 1972. The Terrors of Ideological Politics: Liberal Historians in a Conservative Mood. Cleveland and London: The Press of Case Western Reserve University.

Neuchterlein, James A. 1977. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and the Discontents of Postwar American Liberalism. Review of Politics 39: 3-40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0034670500032873

Ricci, David M. 1984. The Tragedy of Political Science: Politics, Scholarship, and Democracy. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.

Roazen, Paul. 1990. Introduction to The Necessity of Choice: Nineteenth Century Political Thought. by Louis Hartz. New Brunswick and London: Transaction Publishers

Downloads

Published

1995-01-01

Issue

Vol. 15: Winter 1994

Section

Articles

License

Authors who publish with American Review of Politics agree to the following terms:

  1. The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term “Work” shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.

  2. Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.

  3. The Author shall grant to the Publisher and its agents the nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions:

    1. Attribution: other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;

    2. Non-Commercial: the materials may not be used for commercial purposes;

    3. Share Alike: If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.

with the understanding that the above condition can be waived with permission from the Author and that where the Work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.

  1. The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

  2. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post online a pre-publication manuscript (but not the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work) in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (see The Effect of Open Access). Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work shall be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Publisher-assigned DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and a link to the online abstract for the final published Work in the Journal.

  3. Upon Publisher’s request, the Author agrees to furnish promptly to Publisher, at the Author’s own expense, written evidence of the permissions, licenses, and consents for use of third-party material included within the Work, except as determined by Publisher to be covered by the principles of Fair Use.

  1. The Author represents and warrants that:

    1. the Work is the Author’s original work;

    2. the Author has not transferred, and will not transfer, exclusive rights in the Work to any third party;

    3. the Work is not pending review or under consideration by another publisher;

    4. the Work has not previously been published;

    5. the Work contains no misrepresentation or infringement of the Work or property of other authors or third parties; and

    6. the Work contains no libel, invasion of privacy, or other unlawful matter.

  2. The Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless from Author’s breach of the representations and warranties contained in Paragraph 6 above, as well as any claim or proceeding relating to Publisher’s use and publication of any content contained in the Work, including third-party content.