The Seekers (book)
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| Author | Daniel Boorstin |
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| Cover artist | Bernard Klein |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | History |
| Publisher | Random House |
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Publication date
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1998 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover |
| Pages | 298 (hbk) 349 (pbk) |
| ISBN | (pbk) |
| Preceded by | The Creators |
The Seekers is a non-fiction work of cultural history by Daniel Boorstin published in 1998 (hardback - 1999 paperback) and is the third and final volume in the "knowledge" trilogy.
The Seekers is subtitled The Story of Man's Continuing Quest to Understand His World. It is the story (or stories) of those within Western culture who have sought answers - many times without finding them. In A Personal Note to the Reader, Boorstin writes, Caught between two eternities- the vanished past and the unknown future - we never cease to seek our bearings and our sense of direction. We inherit our legacy of the sciences and the arts - works of the great Discoverers and Creators...recounted in my earlier volumes. We glory in their discoveries and creations. But we are all Seekers. We all want to know why. Man is the asking animal... Unlike The Discoverers and The Creators this book does not chronicle discoveries, inventions and creations. Instead, various religious and philosophical Western thinkers are portrayed as are their attempts to seek in their own way. The work contains 41 separate vignettes, each dedicated to a seeker. They are grouped in eight parts that are divided into three books representing what Boorstin calls the three grand epochs of seeking.
Part I. The Way of Prophets: A Higher Authority
Part II. The Way of Philosophers: A Wondrous Instrument Within
Part III: The Christian Way: Experiments in Community
Part IV. Ways of Discovery: In Search of Experience
Part V. The Liberal Way
Part VI. The Momentum of History: Ways of Social Science
Part VII. The Sanctuaries of Doubt
Part VIII. A World In Process: The Meaning In The Seeking
The Seekers was both praised and criticized for its adulatory treatment of Western culture. Michael Lind, in a New York Times Book Review (Western Civ Fights Back), noted that he was "a secular, skeptical moderate, Northeastern liberal" yet offered a vigorous defense of Western civilization. He remarks that Boorstin may be signaling a new trend since other liberals are also speaking out, particularly against what they consider excesses of ideology: multiculturalism, radical academia, political correctness and affirmative action to name a few. Roger Kimball of the Wall Street Journal praised his "formidable narrative gift and a great deal of common sense." Publishers Weekly wrote a laudatory review stating "...what Boorstin does so well is bring together many ideas that fertilize and cross-fertilize the reader's imagination and curiosity." Amazon.com, discussing Western intellectual development, asks "What other author could put it so succinctly?" Harry Frumerman of The Library Journal describes the book then adds "The writing has a sweeping, didactic tone. A suitable but not mandatory choice for academic and larger public libraries." Amazon Editorial Reviews
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