The Image
A Guide to Pseudo-events in America
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group · Print & ebook · September 1, 1992
Daniel J. Boorstin’s prophetic vision of an America inundated by its own illusions is an essential resource for any reader who wants to distinguish the manifold deceptions of our culture from its few enduring truths.
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- Who it’s for
- A provocative account of how manufactured events and celebrity shape what we see and hear.
- Themes
- Manufactured news events, Celebrity and public image, Cultural illusions
- Genres
- How Media Works, Pop Culture Studies, Media, Politics & the Internet
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Daniel J. Boorstin’s prophetic vision of an America inundated by its own illusions is an essential resource for any reader who wants to distinguish the manifold deceptions of our culture from its few enduring truths. "The book that best explains Trump’s dominance may well have been published in 1962.
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In The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America, the historian Daniel J. Boorstin described the image as a medium—a photograph, a movie, a representation of life, laid out on pulp or screen—that becomes, soon enough, a habit of mind." —The Atlantic “Boorstin’s book tells us how to see and listen, and how to think about what we see and hear.”—George Will First published in 1962, this wonderfully provocative book introduced the notion of “pseudo-events”—events such as press conferences and presidential debates, which are manufactured solely in order to be reported—and the contemporary definition of celebrity as “a person who is known for his well-knownness.”
Seeing the Image
A provocative account of how manufactured events and celebrity shape what we see and hear.
Come here for
- A sharp lens on media, politics, and public life
- Boorstin’s memorable idea of celebrity as “well-knownness”
Expect
- A 1962 argument that still invites scrutiny
- A guide to distinguishing pseudo-events from enduring truths
Where it sits
| How Media Works | 58% |
|---|---|
| Pop Culture Studies | 46% |
| Media, Politics & the Internet | 43% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Media & Communications
- Media, Politics & the Internet
- How Media Works
- Authors
- Daniel J. Boorstin
- Publisher
- Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
- Published
- September 1, 1992
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Manufactured news events · Celebrity and public image · Cultural illusions
- Reading lane
- Media & Communications