Customer Reviews

The Essential Fromm: Life Between Having and Being

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Rainer Funk brings together the most lucid and poignant passages from Fromms oeuvre. The chapters are concise and the ideas are cogently presented. In Fromm's humanistic writings and critiques one, of course, finds references to Marx and Freud. However, one can equally recognize the insights of Heidegger, Nietzsche and even the mystic traditions of Buddhism, Taoism, Judaism and Christianity. Fromm's insights on capitalism and the 'having' mode of being are incredibly insightful and should offer the reader a great deal of reflection, especially in context with today's consumerism. Yet, in contrast, Fromm offers suggestions to free oneself from the limited and pernicious sensibilities of materialism and pecuniary greed. This collection will be an excellent complement to Marx, Veblen and Marcuse, and an indispensible introduction to Fromm and the Frankfurt school.

This compilation of Fromm's writing, speeches, and interviews surrounding the topic of "having" versus "being" was very well compiled. Editor Funk takes relative material throughout Fromm's career and organizes it into a flowing, readable format; Not to mention the amazing insight Fromm covers when addressing this pertinent concept. Anyone seeking an alternative vision of how to live life more fully, and more humanistically should read this, as well as the rest of Fromm's writings. He was a genius.