This provocative new collection of essays by a Pulitzer Prize winner deals with the challenging themes of discovery and surprise in history.

Wasn't what I was expecting from the blurb (hm, maybe I should have expected that...), this is a grouping of various talks and essays. More ranting than history - there's a sustained attack on politically correct language at one point, for example. I disagreed with some of Boorstin's main points - about science being collaborative and art being solitary, and discoverers being celebrated while inventors are not. The chapter I did enjoy was his memorial of his father, a lawyer in Tulsa in its early years. Otherwise, I found Boorstin's apparent belief that life the USA is the height of human progress rather short-sighted and unquestioning. For someone who had lived overseas, his view of life seemed remarkably parochial. ( )

This book had such a fascinating title that I had to buy it- but you need to sit somewhere undisturbed to make your way through it. Doesn't have to be read cover to cover- start at a section: New-World Opportunities, for example.