Chapter 1 - Introduction - Section III Summary and Analysis

Boorstin introduces the book with his main thesis about the creation of pseudo-events in America and how they have come to dominate the collective consciousness. He posits that there are two main "extravagant expectations" that Americans hold. The first expectation is that there is always more that the world can provide. The second expectation is that we have unlimited power to fashion the world to our desires. Boorstin asserts that these two expectations lead to the creation of illusions and thus pseudo-events in order to maintain and strengthen those illusions. Finally, he states that our issues with foreign countries have more to do with their unwillingness to believe our illusions and that the greatest domestic changes will arise from dismantling the illusions.

In section I, Boorstin describes how the telling of...