Charles Lindbergh

Daniel Boorstin examines the life achievements of Charles Lindbergh in some detail because he believes that he was a good example of a hero but was subsequently "degraded into a celebrity". Boorstin asserts that this degradation separated him from the values that were associated with his heroic feats and thus he became empty. Lindbergh made a historic flight across the Atlantic Ocean in a single propeller plane. Boorstin states that although this feat qualified as heroic, on a day-to-day basis, Lindbergh was "a commonplace person".

Knowing that his story would likely make the press, Lindbergh sold the rights to his story to the New York Times before his departure. Boorstin states that his news coverage was "unprecedented". In fact, his story was so popular that the presses had difficulty in keeping up with the printing. Boorstin describes the media coverage as the "biggest human pseudo-event in modern...