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Summary: Essential reading for all
Comment: There is more meat in every 2 pages of this book than you can find in any business or political block-buster. Hoffer's analysis is profound, and his arguments are disturbing because you'll recognise yourself and your own deepest fears and motivations somewhere in his writing. When you find something you can seriously disagree with, you'll discover on the next page he's already figured out your opinion and walks you through why you are wrong!
Best of all, it's written in superb clear English and it's short - no pseudo-intellectual waffle - because he knows exactly what he's trying to say, and he says it well.
You can apply Hoffer's arguments to much that we see in our crazy world, from the smallest to the biggest issues. He's not political and he's got no party agenda to stuff down your throat. After all, he wrote this in 1951 and things have changed a bit since then.
Other reviewers here have given good summaries of what he says - but it's hard to sum the arguments up simply because it's so tightly written in the first place.
This is a very deep and thought provoking little book, highly accessible and written by one of the US' greatest intellects: a formerly-disabled working man who read everything he could find out of terror of going back to being blind. Until you read him, you won't know how blind you are.
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Summary: Fascinating
Comment: Eric Hoffer (1902-83) was born in New York City. At the age of seven he went blind, and after he mysteriously regained his sight at the age of 15 he began to read voraciously. In 1951, the same year that the Rosenbergs were convicted, that the Korean War was at its height, and that Joseph McCarthy was at his height, Mr. Hoffer produced this book. In this book, Mr. Hoffer examines mass movements, and the true believers that fill them. While the movements change from generation to generation, the believers stay the same - people who suffer from self-hatred and self-doubt, and who join a mass movement (any mass movement) that promises to build a better future. The true believers are obsessed with the outer world, and with the private lives of others, seeking to create some sort of meaning for their own lives. Overall, I found this to be one of the most fascinating books that I have ever read. The author's thoughts often seem to come in a stream of consciousness, but they explain so much about believers and the movements that they get behind. This is a riveting read, full of a great deal of food for thought. If you really want to understand the world around you, and the fanatics that fill so many different movements, then this is the book for you. This is a book that every thinking person should read and ponder. I highly recommend it to you!
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Summary: Amazing
Comment: This book has had a strong influence on me. Many of Hoffer's observations ring true when applied to real examples. His startling assertion that true believers are of the same basic psychological type, regardless of doctrine, has an uncanny explanatory power. Many later sociopolitical works echo his thoughts without acknowledging this man and his contributions.
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Summary: A brilliant book of this Century - should be a classic!
Comment: A truly great book, easy to read and provides a provocative analysis of fanaticism - promoters and joiners of political and religious movements. I consider it one of the best of its type ever written - by a man with a keen ability to analyze human motivations and distill the essence of his findings in concise, often controversial, conclusions. You will be drawn to see how his observations mesh with your own experiences, upon careful reflection. Don't miss it!
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Summary: The most memorable book on fanatacism I have ever read.
Comment: 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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