Chapter 4 - Section I-IV Summary and Analysis

Boorstin begins chapter four by reiterating his earlier argument that Americans have unrealistic expectations about the degree to which the world can be shaped or formed. He suggests that democracy and the graphic revolution are mostly responsible for the advent of abridgment and the mass production of art. In the effort to make art and literature accessible to all, Boorstin claims that these forms of expression were "disembodied".

He begins section I by talking about the changes to printed material. In the 1840s, books began to be made very cheap due to a variety of factors. One factor was the advent of presses which allowed for more efficient production of books. Another factor was the "Great Revolution in Publishing" in which "weeklies'' began selling books as "supplements" and "extras" in order to receive lower postal...