The Ordeal of Change (Paperback)

~ (Author) "It is my impression that no one really likes the new..." (more)
Key Phrases: individualist society, social usefulness, human uniqueness, Middle Ages, New York, Near East (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

He seems like a being who had just emerged from unknown depths, startled, overjoyed at what he saw about him -- Eric Sevareid, broadcaster, journalist

Product Description

Eric Hoffer--one of America's most important thinkers and the author of The True Believer--lived for years as a Depression Era migratory worker. Self-taught, his appetite for knowledge--history, science, mankind--formed the basis of his insight to human nature. Nowhere is this more evident than in Hoffer's seminal work, The Ordeal of Change, essays on the duality and essentiality of change in man throughout history. SPECIAL EDITION includes text handwritten message from Eric Hoffer.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 136 pages
• Publisher: Hopewell Publications; First British Edition edition (June 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933435100
• ISBN-13: 978-1933435107
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #237,771 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

92 of 93 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Down-to-earth philosophy and insight into change, November 6, 2000

By	"[e-mail]" (Cayey, PR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ordeal of Change (Library Binding)

Eric Hoffer is a remarkable individual, a self-educated philosopher and original thinker. He made an incredible impact years ago with his first book, The True Believer, which became a cult classic. A generation later, it has been (temporarily) forgotten, along with his second book, which never received the recognition it deserved. The Ordeal of Change relates how human beings deal with change in a series of essays that are both easy to relate to, meaningful to academics and lay people alike, and reflective of scholarship and common-sense. Why are we both attracted to and afraid of change? Hoffer's very readable book answers these questions in understandable and well-grounded terms. I have recommended this book to a dozen executives who have had to deal with resistance to change in their organizations, and somehow never came across this remarkable work by a San Francisco longshoreman who is a rival as a thinker to the best of more recognized intellectuals. Surprise someone whose mind you admire and wish to challenge with this as a gift, and do yourself a favor, proving that you can compete in the world of ideas. I didn't get my copy back from the last person I loaned it to, and can't remember who it was, so I have to buy a second copy of one of my all time favorites.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars He walked to the sound of his own drummer, January 22, 2006

By	Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Ordeal of Change (Library Binding)

This work contains a mixture of autobiography and philosophical and social reflection. Hoffer wrote ," My writing grows out of my life, just like a branch out of a tree" And his lifelong journey in learning was really integral to his own life. He began reading Montaigne and spent a lifetime reading more and learning all the time. He makes it clear here that he like most human beings fears change, but understands that to truly thrive from change one must learn, understood that those who rely on what they have learned long ago will have the world pass them. In other words he recommended that Societies like individuals be engaged in a continual process of learning and developing.
Hoffer was a one- of - a kind original. A truly decent person, who walked to the sound of his own drummer. Admirable in his anti- totalitarian stance and his refusal to be cowed by intellectual trend or fashion. He was a believer in American freedom , and an example of what a free - society can produce- at its best.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant essays, February 19, 2007

By	Dmitriy Golubkov (Russia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Hoffer's essays are the best I have ever read on sociology. They are short, well organized and provide the deepest understanding of human nature. I hardly remember a thinker which could compete with Hoffer in this field.