The Creators: A History of Heroes of the Imagination was published by Random House in 1992, the second volume in the trilogy that began with The Discoverers. Where the first book traced humanity’s effort to understand the world, The Creators traces the parallel effort to make new worlds — through art, literature, music, architecture, and performance.
Boorstin organizes the book around the creative acts themselves rather than by medium or period: the creation of sacred texts (Homer, the Bible, the Quran), the invention of architectural forms (the Greek temple, the Gothic cathedral, the skyscraper), the development of musical notation and composition (from Gregorian chant through Bach to jazz), the evolution of the novel (Cervantes, Dickens, Dostoevsky), and the invention of cinema.
The biographical method that served The Discoverers so well is equally effective here: Dante is not just a poet but a man in exile, writing the Commedia as an act of revenge and redemption. Michelangelo is not just a sculptor but a tormented perfectionist who saw his art as a form of prayer. Shakespeare is not just a playwright but a commercial artist working within the constraints of the Elizabethan theater, turning those constraints into opportunities. Each portrait illuminates both the individual and the cultural conditions that made the creative act possible.
Collecting The Creators
First edition (Random House, New York, 1992): Cloth binding, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $15–$40
- Very good/very good: $5–$15
- Signed: $40–$100