BOORSTIN, DANIEL J(OSEPH)

born Oct. 1, 1914, Atlanta, Ga., U.S. influential social historian and educator known for his studies of American civilization, notably his major work, The Americans, in three volumes: The Colonial Experience (1958), The National Experience (1965), and The Democratic Experience (1973; Pulitzer Prize, 1974). Boorstin received his B.A. from Harvard University (1934) and two law degrees from the University of Oxford (1936, 1937) as a Rhodes scholar. He taught history at the University of Chicago from 1944 to 1969, writing while there The Lost World of Thomas Jefferson (1948), The Genius of American Politics (1953), and the first two volumes of The Americans, his analysis of American history and culture's distinctive characteristics. Boorstin directed the National Museum of History and Technology at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., from 1969 to 1973, and in 1975 he was appointed librarian of Congress, serving in the latter post until 1987. The public use of the Library of Congress more than doubled during his tenure there. Boorstin continued to write works on American history, politics, and technological change. He was the editor of the Chicago History of American Civilization series.