The Seekers: The Story of Man's Continuing Quest to Understand His World Knowledge Trilogy (3) - Softcover

Boorstin, Daniel J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0375704752 ISBN 13: 9780375704758

Publisher: Vintage, 1999

Synopsis

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year

From the author of The Discoverers and The Creators, an incomparable history of man's essential questions: "Who are we?" and "Why are we here?"

Daniel J. Boorstin, the bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Americans, introduces us to some of the great pioneering seekers whose faith and thought have for centuries led man's search for meaning.

Moses sought truth in God above while Sophocles looked to reason. Thomas More and Machiavelli pursued truth through social change. And in the modern age, Marx and Einstein found meaning in the sciences. In this epic intellectual adventure story, Boorstin follows the great seekers from the heroic age of prophets and philosophers to the present age of skepticism as they grapple with the great questions that have always challenged man.

About this title

Review:

Renowned historian Daniel J. Boorstin completes the trilogy he began with The Discoverers and The Creators. The first volume covered explorers, scientists, and historians in their quest for raw knowledge, while the second book describes writers, painters, and composers in their pursuit of inspiring art; The Seekers describes people searching for an understanding of human existence--"Man is the asking animal," notes Boorstin. It's a big, bold theme, and although The Seekers is the shortest work in the trilogy, it's still vintage Boorstin: incredibly learned, richly anecdotal, and casually profound. It begins with the prophets of the Holy Land and the philosophers of ancient Greece, continues through the Renaissance, and concludes with the modern era of the social sciences. "In this long quest [for understanding], Western culture has turned from seeking the end or purpose to seeking causes--from the Why to the How," writes Boorstin. That's a neat summary of Western intellectual development over several thousand years. What other author could put it so succinctly? Boorstin is generally stronger with material that is more recent and more secular, but this is an accomplished book and a worthy capstone to an outstanding three-volume effort. --John J. Miller

From the Back Cover:

"Impressive. . . . Boorstin reminds us what intellectual history on the grand scale looks like." --The New York Times Book Review

"Unexcelled. . . . [It] confirms Boorstin's rank as one of the giants of twentieth-century American scholarship." --George F. Will

"Delivered with . . . skill, unalloyed admiration, and a keen eye for detail." --Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

"An admirable volume, thoroughly researched and beautifully arranged." --Washington Times

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0375704752
• ISBN 13: 9780375704758
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 351