The Right to Be Human: A Biography of Abraham Maslow [Hardcover]

Edward Hoffman PhD (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1988

Recognized as one of the greatest influences on contemporary psychology, Abraham Maslow created the seminal concepts of team-decision and management, self-actualization and higher motivation. This all-new edition of the critically acclaimed 1988 classic fully captures the renewed popularity of Maslow's business applications -- what they are, what they mean, and why.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Brandeis psychologist Maslow (1908-1970), a founder of humanistic psychology, was an uneasy hero of the 1960s counterculture. As spiritualistic fads swept the country, he scolded Esalen Institute instructors for their smugness and warned his followers that too much inwardness is not psychologically healthy. This apostle of self-actualization and creative "peak experiences" was an intensely private man who rarely discussed his own mystical highs. Hoffman, biographer of Wilhelm Reich, has interviewed Maslow's friends, family and students, and while he never fully pierces his subject's calm, scholarly demeanor, his thoughtful biography has its rewards. We meet Maslow the youthful sexologist of the 1930s (his findings were championed decades later by feminists); the socialist-leaning rebel who married his cousin and lived on a commune; the professor who actively disliked conformist students. The first full-scale biography of Maslow, this profile will be of interest to the many people touched by his humanistic vision of personal growth. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

$18.95. psych This is the first comprehensive biography of Maslow (1908-1970), a founder of the humanistic psychology movement. Skillfully revealing Maslow's attractive personality and enormous zeal, clinical psychologist Hoffman shows how the early career was distinguished by rigorous empirical researchspecifically in his studies in dominance and motivationand his later career by an admirable creative clarity regarding a comprehensive theory of human motivation and a metapsychology of higher needs and aspirations. Given Maslow's many distinguished friends and mentors, this captivating and sympathetic biography is a major intellectual history of four decades of American psychology. William Abrams, Portland State Univ. Lib., Ore.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 382 pages
• Publisher: Tarcher; 1 edition (April 1, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0874774616
• ISBN-13: 978-0874774610
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,044,815 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Biography, August 19, 2000

By 

Azlan Adnan - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Right to Be Human: A Biography of Abraham Maslow (Paperback)

Why have almost all of today's most celebrated marketing wizards made it their business to know about this man and examine his ideas? Why does virtually every serious management book recognize, document, and praise his insights? How do his life and his legacy continue to inspire and inform the visions of today's most alert and innovative entrepreneurs? Why is global interest now mounting in his multifaceted work?

Fascinating and visionary, Abraham Harold Maslow (1908-1970) pioneered revolutionary ideas that helped form modern psychology and laid the foundation of the human side of management and marketing. His lifetime of discoveries in motivation and personality transcended academic psychology, and extended into the major business fields of management and marketing. Maslow also loved to explore nascent, barely perceptible social trends and speculate boldly about their long-term consequences. He was the originator of such important concepts as the hierarchy of human needs, self-actualization, higher motivation, team decision-making and business synergy.

All business students-not just of management development and organizational behaviour-should read this seminal biography. Critically acclaimed in its first edition and now revised and updated for this paperback edition, The Right to Be Human is a fascinating portrait of one of the seminal thinkers of the twentieth century-at once a vivid biography of a truly original personality and an intellectual journey to the very source of how we think about and manage our businesses today.

Edward Hoffman, PhD, is a clinical psychologist in New York with degrees from Cornell University and the University of Michigan. He has authored several books including Future Visions: The Unpublished Papers of Abraham Maslow, The Drive for Self: Alfred Adler and the Founding of Individual Psychology and The Book of Fathers' Wisdom.

4.0 out of 5 stars The Right to be Human: Abraham Maslow, January 17, 2012

By 

Kim Burdick (NEWARK, DE, US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Right to Be Human: A Biography of Abraham Maslow (Paperback)

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Hoffman's well-researched biography of the Abraham Maslow, founder of humanistic psychology, is written with both warmth and precision. Unlike many biographers, Hoffman never loses sight of his goal. It is a solid biography without frills.

Maslow was both a dreamer and a realist. His views of human behavior were holistic, powerful and practical. Many of his ideas were immediately endorsed and put to use, not by his academic colleagues, but by the leaders and innovators of the business community.

Almost every American sociology and psychology student knows "Maslow's Pyramid of Needs." This book will enrich the student's understanding not only of "the pyramid," but also of Maslow's enormous contributions to a multidisciplinary study of human nature.

"The Right to Be Human" is very readable and offers a heart-warming account of one man's life and thought.

Kim Burdick
Stanton, Delaware