Description: Winner of the Bancroft Prize
In this brilliantly original book, written for the general reader, the American past becomes richly meaningful to the present.Review Quotes: "What made the Americans Americans? This is the question posed by Daniel J. Boorstin in a thoughtful, readable and often provocative book." --Wesley Frank Craven, The New York Times
"This is an ambitious book, well-documented throughout, with many stimulating ideas. . . . Mr. Boorstin is searching for the the grandiose motives, probing the words and actions of the colonists for contemporary meaning." --Hebert Mitgang, The New York Times "Mr. Boorstin's focus in this impressive essay in intellectual history is the interplay between ideas and institution. Using this as his perspective, he offers a fresh and arresting reading of the colonial mind." --Arthur Schlesinger, Jr."A superb panorama of life in America from the first settlements on through the white hot days of the Revolution." - Bruce Lancaster, Saturday Review