Book Reviews
Some of the world's most provocative, controversial and influential books have been written by shrewd and learned men...Machiavelli, Marx, Spengler, Ortega y Gasset, Sorokin, Toynbee.... A new candidate for inclusion in their company has volunteered this week...Eric Hoffer.
Orville Prescott - New York Times (1951)
It is in the cards, as surely as weeds outnumber nutritious plants, that many souls are doomed to suffer pangs of self-disgust engendered by frustration. This searching pain drives the victim to seek release in politico-religious identification.
E.B. Garside - New York Times (1951)
If you want concise insight into what drives the mind of the fanatic and the dynamics of a mass movement at their most primal level, may I suggest an evening with Eric Hoffer.... It’s an odd coincidence that the 50th anniversary of its publication should coincide so precisely with the renewed and remarkable relevance of its ideas.
New York Herald Tribune (now defunct)
Its theme is political fanaticism, with which it deals severely and brilliantly.... It owes its distinction to the fact that Hoffer is a born generalizer, with a mind that inclines to the wry epigram and icy aphorism as naturally as did that of the Duc de La Rochefoucauld.
John McDonough - Wall St. Journal
[Hoffer] is a student of extraordinary perception and insight. The range of his reading and research is vast, amazing. He has written one of the most provocative books of our immediate day.
Christian Science Monitor
Its theme is political fanaticism, with which it deals severely and brilliantly.... It owes its distinction to the fact that Hoffer is a born generalizer, with a mind that inclines to the wry epigram and icy aphorism as naturally as did that of the Duc de La Rochefoucauld.
The New Yorker