Creators of Western Art: 3,000 Years of Architecture, Music, Painting, Sculpting & Writing (1992)

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The Creators is a non-fiction work of cultural history by Daniel Boorstin published in 1992 and is the second volume in what has become known as the Knowledge Trilogy. It was preceded by The Discoverers and succeeded by The Seekers. The Creators, subtitled A History of Heroes of the Imagination, is the story of mankind's creativity. It highlights great works of art, music and literature but it is more than a recitation or list. It is a book of ideas and the people behind those ideas. It encompasses architecture, music, literature, painting, sculputure, the performing arts, theater, religious expression and philosophy. It can be viewed as a companion to The Discoverers which chronicled the history of invention, exploration and technology. The Creators traces the creative process from pre-history Egypt to modern times and like The Discoverers, follows both a topical and chronological structure. Boorstin writes in "A Personal Note to the Reader", "After The Discoverers... "I was more than ever convinced that the pursuit of knowledge is only one path to human fulfillment. This companion book, also a view from the literate West, is a saga of Heroes of the Imagination. While The Discoverers told of the conquest of illusions - the illusion of knowledge - this will be a story of vision (and illusions) newly created..." If The Discoverers is the story of the inventive human mind then The Creators is the story of the searching soul. The work is in twelve major parts that have been grouped into four books. The Creators was widely praised by both professional and non-professional readers but had its share of critics. It has been criticized for factual mistakes, poor research, literary ignorance, incorrect conclusions, a bias toward Western culture to the exclusion of other cultures, a tendency to overlook the negative and lack of attribution. Kenneth S. Lynn, a Harvard professor of history, accused Boorstin of philosophical bias and blatant myth-making. He has been called superficial because his works are popular with the general public. Boorstin follows the pattern he established in the previous book, The Discoverers. The book is built around the lives and contributions of individuals. These vignettes are the anchor of the work and reflects the author's belief that history is molded by men and women of daring and genius rather than ideological movements or academic theories. The subtitles in all three books of the Knowledge Trilogy pay homage to this idea. The trail of personal vignettes stretches from Confucius to Pope Gregory to Bach to Mozart to Dostoyevsky - a panorama of creators. Boorstin also adheres to an incremental approach to history. Although genius is unpredictable, it still builds upon the accomplishments of those who came before. Repeatedly Boorstin links changes in the way we view ourselves to artistic and creative changes. Boorstin announces in his "Note to the Reader" (above) that he approaches the subject from a Western orientation. His concern is not strictly identifying great creators and their creations but also asking "Why?" and this question forms the basis of his Western orientation. Why were European painting styles and techniques in constant flux while China's remained relatively unchanged? Why did music acquire polyphony and instrumentation and evolve into a myriad of related "styles" while Indian music saw little evolution? Why did architecture undergo such radical transformation in the West? Why did Europe become the land of literacy and books? These question led Boorstin to certain proposals. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Creators