[Knowledge Trilogy 03] • The Seekers

Throughout history, from the time of Socrates to our own modern age, the human race has sought the answers to fundamental questions of life: Who are we? Why are we here?

Inhis previous national bestsellers, The Discoverers and The Creators, Daniel J. Boorstin first told brilliantly how e discovered the reality of our world, and then he celebrated man's achievements in thearts. He now turns to the great figures in history who sought meaning and purpose in our existence.

Boorstin says our Western culture has seen three grand epics ofSeeking. First there was the heroic way of prophets and philosophers--men like Moses or Job or Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, as well as those in the communities of the early church universities and theProtestant Reformation--seeking salvation or truth from the god above or the reason within each of us.

Then came an age of communal seeking, with people like Thucydides and Thomas More and Machiavelliand Voltaire pursuing civilization and the liberal spirit.

Finally, there was an age of the social sciences, when man seemed ruled by the forces of history. Here arethe absorbing stories of exceptional men such as Marx, Spengler, and Toynbee, Carlyle and Emerson, and Malraux, Bergson, and Einstein.

These great thinkers still have the power to speak to us, not alwaysso much for their answers as for their way of asking the questions that never cease either to intrigue or to obsess us.

In this impressive climax to a monumental trilogy, Daniel J. Boorstin once againshows that his ability to present challenging ideas, coupled with sharp portraits of great writers and thinkers, remains unparalleled. "From the Hardcover edition."