The True Believer : Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements

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Summary: The most memorable book on fanatacism I have ever read.
Review: I first read this book while writing my doctoral dissertation, "The Fundamental Protestant Radical Right: their views and influences on public education." Of course, I read many other books as well; but Hoffer's small, easily read work stood out from the crowd.

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Summary: This is a classic deserving far more attention and respect
Review: Eric Hoffer was not a member of the university snob community---and the latter will never forgive him for writing a book far beyond their pathetic talents. The True Believer transcended the categories of right and left wing. Extremists of either stripe did not have a friend in Hoffer.

In fairness,however, I must concede that there are often advantages in acquiring a formal degree. Few can overcome the deficiencies resulting from being a drop out. I would hesitate in flippantly recommending this lifestyle. The Eric Hoffers, admittedly, are always the statistical aberration, never the norm. Nonetheless, when the iconoclastic outsider does it right---they can accomplish greatness. Eric Hoffer did it right and was a giant.

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Summary: Proves for excellent essay analysis
Review: I have read this book as a part of a class on revolutions, and I found it so helpful that I have read it again several times, as well as using it for reference. I would recommend this book to anyone doing university level history or sociology - it proves for excellent analysis to be used in essays.

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Summary: The most devastating critique of ISM'S & cults ever written
Review: Eric Hoffer was a longshoreman who wrote elegant philosophical prose.I read THE TRUE BELIEVER when I was involved with Ayn Rand's Objectivist movement and recognized myself and everyone I knew.Have your youngster read this book and I guarantee they will never join the Moonies or any other cult while away at college.This is a great book.

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Summary: Thought Provoking, Jolly Good Read
Review: This book is a must for students of political behaviour. His insights are profound, clearly stated and well explained.

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Summary: Goundwork for Memetics
Review: The sorts of ideas Hoffer discusses are exactly what the newly popular study of "Memes" is about. Thought Contagion - how mass movements spread and the taxonomy of people who help them along. His style is a bit more concise and quotable than most of the current crop - he uses no jargon. His concern is less with the spreading mechanism in recipients than with the people who originate and manipulate mass movements.

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Summary: Understand humanity better.
Review: Whether you read a few sentences a day or in one setting, you will be challenged to think about humans, history and the future. This is a must read for anyone who cares about humanity and understanding mass movements, from the formation of Christianity to Naziism to Bosnia. Every thinking Christian must read this book!

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Summary: why men will do the unthinkable
Review: Mr.Hoffer explains the conditions under which men are able to accept philosophies like communism. fundamentally, it is a result of sheer hopelessness. He makes his case very well, and the book has withstood the test of time. Mr Hoffer was a longshoreman, and becam famous during the Presidency of J.F.Kenned

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Summary: A thought provoking read.
Review: This book is about an intriguing and deep subject. It is impeccably researched and librally spiced with piquant quotes from a wide range of sources. I warn all readers, when you've finished this book you will be angry. You'll find your faith somewhat shaken too. Not you're faith in God but in His churches

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Summary: Hofferian Insights Bearing Upon September 11
Review: "The less justified a man is in claiming excellence for his own self, the more ready is he to claim excellence for his nation, his religion, his race or his holy cause."--Eric Hoffer, The true Believer

None of the terrorists of September 11 were destitute. Some even had wives and children. Nevertheless, they committed suicide for their cause. Anyone wanting to understand this horrible irony would do well to read Eric Hoffer's 1951 classic, The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements. Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) was a self-educated US author and philosopher who was a migratory worker and longshoreman until 1967. He achieved immediate acclaim with his first book, The true Believer.

According to Hoffer, the early converts to any mass movement come from the ranks of the "frustrated," that is, "people who..feel that their lives are spoiled or wasted." The true believers' "Faith in [their] holy cause is to a considerable extent a subsitute for [their] lost faith in [themselves]." He says that we are prone to throw ourselves into a mass movement to "supplant and efface the self we want to forget." He then adds, "We cannot be sure that we have something worth living for unless we are ready to die for it."

Hoffer offers a general insight about mass movements, which seems to prophetically explain why there is currently widespread anti-Western sentiment within Islamic countries:

"The discontent generated in backward countries by their contact with Western civilization is not primarily resentment against exploitation by domineering foriegners. It is rather the result of a crumbling or weakening of tribal solidarity and communal life.

"The ideal of self-advancement which the civilizing West offers to the backward populations brings with it the plague of individual frustration. All the advantages brought by the West are ineffectual substitutes for the sheltering and soothing anonymity of a communal existence. Even when the Westernized native attains personal success--becomes rich, or masters a respected profession--he is not happy."

Further along, Hoffer mentions those who "want to eliminate free competition and the ruthless testing to which the individual is continually subjected in a free society."

Why should individualism, freedom, and self-advancement be hated? Again, I can do no better than quote Hoffer:

"Freedom aggravates as much as it alleviates frustration. Freedom of choice places the whole blame of failure on the shoulders of the individual. And as freedom encourages a multiplicity of attempts, it unavoidably muliplies failure and frustration...Unless a man has talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden...We join mass movements to escape individual responsibility...."

In light of the above quotes, there is little wonder that the terrorists chose to destroy the Twin Towers. These were architectural symboles of individualism and self-advancement.

But Hoffer's book does more than give us insight into the psychology of the fanatic. It causes us to soberly contemplate ourselves. For who has not experienced failure, frustration, and a sense of futility at one time or another? The true Believer is one of those few books I consider to contain ideas approximating to true "wisdom."