Samuel W. Franklin

Did you know that before the early part of the Twentieth Century, "creativity" as a concept wasn't really part of our cultural lexicon? I thought it was a concept as old as art itself. Not true. Sure, we had words like unique, innovative, new, etc. But Franklin demonstrates that "creativity," ironically, is almost entirely a construct of the modern American military-industrial complex -- a concept that could be studied, possessed, identified, cultivated, taught, propagated, and most importantly, monetized. ... If I were to have read this description a month ago, before reading the book, I would have been extremely skeptical of the argument as like being likely an overly-clever academic exercise. But Franklin relies on example after example of texts, interviews, pamphlets, and accessible analysis to make his entirely convincing case. This book has completely shifted the framework through which I think about the concept of "creativity."… (meer)