Power and Innocence: A Search for the Sources of Violence (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Sheds new light on the timely topic of violence. -- Library Journal

Sheds new light on the timely topic of violence. (Library Journal )

[May's book] is an attack on the psychological rejection of power in the intellectual tradition of the Christian West. . . . With great skill [he] weaves together his political reflections and clinical experience. . . . [A] wise, humane, and admirable book. -- William Hamilton, Christian Century

[May's book] is an attack on the psychological rejection of power in the intellectual tradition of the Christian West. . . . With great skill [he] weaves together his political reflections and clinical experience. . . . [A] wise, humane, and admirable book. (William Hamilton - Christian Century )

Product Description

Stressing the positive, creative aspects of power and innocence, Rollo May offers a way of thinking about the problems of contemporary society. He discusses five levels of power's potential in each individual, what each is, how it works, and more .

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co. (March 17, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039331703X
• ISBN-13: 978-0393317039
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #705,004 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars May's study of violence is even more apropos today, July 18, 1998

By	dr. (Dr. Stephen Diamond, author of ANGER, MADNESS, AND THE DAIMONIC from Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews

POWER AND INNOCENCE is even more pertinent to today's violent society than it was when first published in 1972--during the Vietnam war. Subtitled A SEARCH FOR THE SOURCES OF VIOLENCE, May elaborates really on his introduction to readers in LOVE AND WILL of his conception of "the daimonic," pointing out how power--though corruptive when absolute or totally absent--can, like anger or rage, also be a positive, constructive force. He also warns of the dangers of "pseudoinnocence": an immature, naive inability or (often religious) unwillingness to recognize the reality of evil in the world, oneself or others. Such denial of the daimonic is the antithesis of true spirituality. Though the war is long over, we Americans are currently engaged in hostilities of a different kind: domestic violence, schoolyard massacres, bombings and general mayhem. We are as violent as ever--maybe more so--and May's superb and prescient book is as aprop! os as ever--maybe even more so.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Causes of Violence, November 12, 2007

By	J. Anderson (Whaletown, B.C. Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I found this book very instructive, full of insight into the underlying causes of violence of all kinds. I wish I had known about this earlier in my life. May makes the argument that every human being requires significance and if a system obstructs that for too long, violence will inevitably erupt like the sudden emergence of boiling in a pot of water that has been heated for some time. He describes some ideas that are difficult to face, such as that America has always been a land of violence, from the initial genocide of the Indians, through the 1968 political assassinations, to the present day occupations of other people's countries. Another is that the violence in war is sometimes described by soldiers as accompanying deep experiences they miss after their combat experience is over. I highly recommend this book for both its substance and its readability.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a good companion...., June 1, 2000

By	Craig Chalquist, PhD, author of TERRAPSYCHOLO... (Bay Area, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

....to Stephen Diamond's ANGER, MADNESS, AND THE DAIMONIC, this book always reminds me of one of its central ideas: that innocence unaware of its own daimonic dimension (its own shadow) becomes evil.