About this title: The author introduces the seminal concept of "pseudo-events"--such as press conferences and presidential debates, which are staged solely for publicity--and redefines celebrity as "a person who is known for his well-knownness". The result is an essential resource that distinguishes the deceptions of our culture from its few enduring truths.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Edition: Tenth Print
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Atheneum Books, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1985
ISBN-13:9780689702808ISBN:0689702809
Description: Good. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Moderate corner, edge wear. Pages good, some underscore, notation. Slight cant. Good working copy. Describes how we have flooded our world with "pseudo-events" and images that tempt us to turn newsgathering into newsmaking, to transform heroes into celebrities, to live not by the American dream but by American illusions. "Technology...the knack of so arranging the world that we don't have to experience it. "-Max Frisch. Forces a consious acknowledgement of the ... read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Atheneum, New York, New York, U.S.A., 1987
ISBN-13:9780689702808ISBN:0689702809
Description: Octavo, softcover, some underlining else VG in red, white and blue wrappers with statue of liberty on cover. 319pp. Witty, stimulating, acute and entertaining. 25th anniversary edition; new foreword by author; afterword by George Will. From American Dream to American illusions, hero to celebrity, ideal to image and more. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Harper & Row; Harper Colophon Books, New York
Date Published: 1964
Description: Good. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. CN 73. ix, 315 pp.; 21 cm. Good+. Tight, clean copy. Light shelfwear to wraps. Browning. An interesting book, comparable to Debord's Society of the Spectacle, without the critique of capitalism. Probably Boorstin's best book. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper & Row
Date Published: 1964
Description: Good. Has writing/underlining. Some shelf wear Loose Binding, good reading copy Very Clean Copy-Over 500, 000 Internet Orders Filled. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Vintage Books
Date Published: 1992-09-01
ISBN-13:9780679741800ISBN:0679741801
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780679741800. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Date Published: 1992
ISBN-13:9780679741800ISBN:0679741801
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Atheneum
Date Published: 1973
Description: Good. ---315 pages. Interior has light pen marks otherwise clean and tight. Nice overall. College edition. -Publish Place: New York-Size: 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Atheneum
Date Published: 1987
ISBN-13:9780689702808ISBN:0689702809
Description: Good. Books have varying amounts of wear and highlighting. Usually ships within 24 hours in quality packaging. Satisfaction guaranteed. read more
Description: Satisfaction Guaranteed. Shipped quickly. Paperback. 25th anniversary ed Ed. Used, good. Dust jacket has small tears/bends on edges. Cover has some edge wear. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harper & Row, New York
Date Published: 1964
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. former pwmers name on front cover. iv, 315 p.; 21 cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. read more
"Written by U.S. historian and writer Daniel Boorstin in 1961 this book focuses on what the author even back at the beginning of the Kennedy administration called the 'pseudo events' in our ( U.S. )society as opposed to the 'real' world which he sees them replacing. While I'm a fan of Boorstin ( see The Discoverers ) and I have a lot of sympathy with his view of particular areas of society , e.g. journalism or advertising , I'm not sure his overall criticism is warranted . His view is probably fairly elitist and has little time for popular culture. And if all this is a problem he does not say much about why it is a problem and what we can do about it . Apparently it is still used as a text in sociology classes and that is probably a fair comment on how I assessed it . Also of some interest is the light that his thesis throws on the culture and nature of the U.S. where most of these 'pseudo event' originated."
"Seems like I give everything five stars....but this was highly recommended by Conor, so that isn't so surprising. Clear, lucid, completely accurate cultural critique. And so relevant to the election coverage!"
Boorstin, Librarian of Congress emeritus, is an outstanding social historian who defines pseudo-events as events created to promote. Generally, these events have no intrinsic newsworthiness. They are not spontaneous, they are usually arranged for the convenience of the media, their relationship to reality is ambiguous and they are intended to be self-fulfilling.
The news media hungers for anything to put in its pages. We are besieged with radio, TV, 24-hour news, magazines, newspapers, books, each requiring "information." Events are now planned to occur at the best time for news broadcasts. It has become terribly important that something always be happening. Pseudo-events help fill the vacuum.
Boorstin is like the little boy who shouts, "the emperor has no clothes." He helps us to peel away the veneer, the false fronts. McCarthy was an expert at creating reportable events that had "an ambiguous relationship to the underlying reality." He invented the morning news conference that announced an afternoon press conference. At the afternoon conference he would proclaim that a witness was not ready or could not be found. The headlines would trumpet, "Mystery witness sought!" Reporters loved him for supplying so much material. Even those who hated him became his best allies.
News has become a dramatic presentation. The president speaking "off-the-cuff" is now more newsworthy than the original prepared speech. It has become difficult to distinguish between the actual and the pseudo event. Organizations manipulate the media to create events all the while castigating the press for opinions on the editorial page. Boorstin argues we now confuse fame with greatness. It is very easy to become famous. By confusing heroes with celebrities "we deny ourselves the role-models of heroes, truly great individuals." The way we travel has also changed. It used to be people traveled to experience a different culture or way of life or language. Rarely did it not affect a person's view of the world. Now more and more people travel, yet are influenced less. We seek to re-create an environment similar to the one we left.
Boorstin cites digests as an example of how forms have dissolved, "the shadow has become the substance." Originally conceived to lead the reader to the original, they now exist as an end product; another step away from the actual experience. Reader's Digest has perfected the form to the point where articles are "planted" in magazines so they can be digested in its publication. By 1943, 60% of all its articles were abridgements of full-length articles commissioned for original publication elsewhere by Reader's Digest. The demand for digested articles was so great it had forced the creation of articles to meet the demand: a literary pseudo-event.
We are now engaged in a competition to create more credible images. The images have become more real than reality. We can persuade ourselves of our image. But we have lost sight of the need to create ideals.
This book was originally published in 1961. Ah, the more things change...."
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