Eric Hoffer: The Longshoreman Philosopher

by Tom Bethell

Overview

Drawn from Eric Hoffer's private papers as well as interviews with those who knew him, this detailed biography paints a picture of a truly original American thinker and writer. Author Tom Bethell interviewed Hoffer in the years just before his death, and his meticulous accounts of those meetings offer new insights into the man known as the "Longshoreman Philosopher."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780817914158
Publisher:	Hoover Institution Press
Publication date:	03/01/2012
Series:	HOOVER INST PRESS PUBLICATION Series , #616
Edition description:	1
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Tom Bethell is a journalist in Washington, DC, where he is a senior editor of The American Spectator. For twenty-five years he has been a visiting media fellow at the Hoover Institution, where Eric Hoffer's papers are now preserved.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 The Enigma of Eric Hoffer 23

Chapter 2 The Migrant Worker 53

Chapter 3 On the Waterfront 73

Chapter 4 Intimate Friendships 97

Chapter 5 The True Believer 113

Chapter 6 Hoffer as a Public Figure 133

Chapter 7 The Literary Life 155

Chapter 8 America and the Intellectuals 179

Chapter 9 God, Jehovah, and the Jews 201

Chapter 10 The Longshoreman Philosopher 221

Epilogue 243

Appendix 1 Quotations and Comments 255

Appendix 2 Increasing His Word-power 275

Appendix 3 "Reflections": Israel Stands Alone 277

Notes 279

About the Author 289

Index 290