Heroes of the imagination

THE POLITICAL HECKLER

- ELFREN S. CRUZ

I must confess that I bought this book "The Creators: A History of Heroes of the Imagination" by Daniel J. Boorstin (Vintage Books, 1993) over a decade ago. Over the past few years, I started reading this chapter by chapter. The difficulty is not because it is an 810-page book but the scope and breadth were overwhelming.

In a personal note to the readers, the author says that the book "... is a tale of man's search to know the world and himself, that the pursuit of knowledge is only one path to human fulfillment." I have many books on all types of heroes. This is the first and only book I have read about heroes of the imagination.

The book explores the lives of individuals who shaped human culture through their creativity. While his earlier book, "The Discoverer" may have focused on the discoverers of the external world, "The Creators" is about those who imagined new worlds — artists, musicians, poets, philosophers and architects. Boorstin's core argument is that creativity has been the driving force behind civilization, shaping not only how we understand beauty and truth, but also how we experience our humanity.

Boorstin celebrates the enduring legacy of creative genius across the centuries. He does not claim a comprehensive list but rather figures who, in his view, represent turning points or radical departures in human expression.

A central theme of the book is that creation is not geniuses merely producing artifacts, but true visionaries who redefined how people thought, felt, worshipped and related to the world. He dwells on the Hebrew Bible, portraying its authors not as chroniclers of history, but as imaginative storytellers who created a spiritual and moral universe. The Apostle Paul is deemed a revolutionary figure who, through theological innovation and narrative reframing, helped shape Christianity into a global religious movement.