Chapter II Section I-III Summary and Analysis

Section I begins by reiterating Boorstin's assertion that Americans have fooled themselves about how much "greatness" is contained in the world and indeed in individuals. He continues that part of this problem rests in the fact that we have so much capacity for creating fame and have erroneously equated fame with greatness. Boorstin connects the drive towards fame with the graphic revolution and the subsequent ability to create "well-knownness". He suggests that heroes can now be "mass-produced".

Boorstin suggests that the old heroic form has been eroded due to science, democratic beliefs, and a reaction to totalitarian leaders in the form of Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin. He continues that "critical history" and "critical biography" have reduced heroes to mere pawns of "social forces" and historical contexts without individual worth or attributes. Boorstin states that psychological...