Out of Step: An Unquiet Life in the 20th Century [Hardcover]

Sidney Hook (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this lengthy, eventful and intellectual autobiography, Hook charts his conversion from communist fellow-traveler to outspoken anti-Marxist and opponent of Soviet expansionism. He blasts Irving Howe and other liberals who, he charges, have concealed their leftist pasts. Calling his own early socialism a substitute for religion, the academic philosopher recalls how Earl Browder, head of the U.S. Communist Party, tried to enlist him as a spy. His firsthand impressions of key figures in the Alger Hiss case will undoubtedly stir controversy. Hook's running debate on world politics with Albert Einstein is recreated here in an exchange of letters. His battles with Sartre, Brecht, Edmund Wilson and Erich Fromm are relived blow by blow. Hook's stated belief that the U.S.S.R. is responsible for starting and sustaining the Cold War is reflected on every page.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Here is a candid and personal portrait of 20th-century intellectual life as told by one of its most outspoken and influential thinkers. Reflecting back on a long career of scholarship, philosopher Hook chronicles the political and intellectual upheavals of the Great Depression, the Second World War, the spread of world communism, and the disillusionment of the Vietnam era, as well as discussing important issues facing us today. The book is also a personal account of his own transformation from devout believer to passionate opponent of communism. His reminiscences about major thinkers he has knownJohn Dewey, Bertrand Russell, M. J. Adler, Einstein, and Sartre among othersare always revealing and make fascinating reading. Highly recommended. Raymond Frey, Drew Univ . Lib., Madison, N.J.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 628 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st edition (March 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060156325
• ISBN-13: 978-0060156329
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,009,509 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not really "out of step", January 28, 2001

By 

Paul J. Rask - See all my reviews

This review is from: Out of Step: An Unquiet Life in the 20th Century (Hardcover)

There is a reward for anyone who makes the effort to find and read this thick, out-of-print memoir by one of the leading leftist thinkers of the 20th Century. Sidney Hook was a sui generis, an entity of its own kind, "out of step" with the rest of his peers of socialists, Marxists, Trotskites, communists and assorted "pinkos". His fascinating and well-told political odyssey began early in the 20th century as a rabid supporter of the Leninist Revolution, then he matured in stages as he was repelled by the terror of Stalin's death purges and the phony Moscow Show Trials of the 1930's. Though he favored Trotsky over Stalin, Hook was not blind to Trotsky's own streak of brutality and bent toward violence. As Hook aged, he grew weary of knee-jerk liberalism and became a rabid anti-communist.

The intellectuals of his time came into and out of Sidney Hook's life and they get mentioned in the pages of his recollections: Lionel and Diana Trilling, John Dewey, Albert Einstein, Bertold Brecht, Bertrand Russell and various prominent personalities from the so-called "New York Intellectuals."

While a professor of philosophy at New York University during those dark days in the late 1960's, Hook was an eye-witness to the disgraceful phenomenon that crippled several American college campuses of that era as frenzied mobs upended the campuses and brought higher education to a halt. Hook was totally "out of step" with his colleagues who, he charged, were ruled by fear and lacked the moral courage to put a stop to the outrages of the mob.

Though he never lost his socialist fervor, Hook's personal war against communism and his firm adherence to intellectual integrity were ultimately acknowledged and honored at a ceremony at the White House when he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Ronald Reagan, Commander in Chief in the battle against the "Evil Empire" of communism.

It was the supreme reward for being "out of step."