Who is Karl Baedeker from The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-events in America and what is their importance?

Boorstin describes Karl Baedeker as the "pioneer" of guidebooks, especially those that gave a kind of script to the locals on how to behave. In the early 1940s, the guides were being purchased by the newly swelling middle class in Europe, who were eager to use their newfound wealth to travel. Baedeker's refusal to put anything into the guides that he hadn't witnessed or personally experienced gave them a reputation for being incredibly accurate and trustworthy.