Customer Reviews

American Odyssey: Letters & Journals, 1940-1947

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American Odyssey is a lush garden filled with the innermost thoughts of Wilhelm Reich during the period he was establishing himself in America in the 1940's. He will have you smiling one moment and welling up with tears the next as you follow him through the maze of his lifework that evidences his being one of humanity's most creative and harrassed thinkers. Reich's concepts are certainly in line with free-thought today. His legacy of leaving his archives to the "children of the future," since they alone would most likely be the ones to understand and accept what he discovered, is falling nicely into place - exactly as Reich knew it would.

Wilhelm Reich was many things in his lifetime- a student of Freud, a political activist, a research scientist, and an inventor. His work was decades ahead of its time and is finally being rediscovered and reevaluated by the public. If, like me, you are interested in Reich and his work, you might want to check out a novel called We All Fall Down, by Brian Caldwell. it draws heavily on Reich's theories, particularly Listen Little Man and The Mass Psychology Of Facism. It's a great introduction to Reich's work and the entire novel draws heavily on his theory. It's very interesting watching an author explore his theories in a fictional setting. Well worth reading.

This book provides a window into the private thoughts and life of Wilhelm Reich. The book provides a great deal of insight into a figure who most certainly seemed bitter at the world's reaction to his work on various levels. In this work you will find a great deal of private thoughts of bitterness towards the world.

At the same time you will see most likely misguided approaches to attempts to attribute orbital mechanics to orgone, messianic ravings, and private notes about his orgone experiments.

This is an immensely important work to anyone interested in Reich as a person. I highly recommend it.