Eric Hoffer
American longshoreman-philosopher (died 1983) who wrote The True Believer.
At a glance
Main ideas
Mass movements are interchangeable, Escape from the self, Men of words, fanatics, men of action …
See all 4Questions about his life
Tom Bethell
Books to start with
The True Believer, The Passionate State of Mind, The Ordeal of Change …
See all 4Connections
Also on this page: Key facts · Links · Sources · Related pages
- Hoffer was a self-taught social philosopher who worked as a migrant labourer and then a San Francisco longshoreman.
- His first book, The True Believer (1951), analysed why people join mass movements, and became a classic.
- He wrote ten books in all, mostly in an aphoristic style.
- Much of his account of his own early life is unverified.
Why it matters
- His account of the frustrated, self-escaping true believer is still reached for whenever fanaticism and mass movements are in the news.
Key facts
- Born
- 25 Jul 1902 by his own account, in the Bronx, New York; his early life is unverified1
- Died
- 21 May 1983, at his home in San Francisco, aged 801
- Work
- Migrant farm worker in California in the 1930s; longshoreman on the San Francisco docks from 1943 to 19641
- Berkeley
- Adjunct professor at the University of California, Berkeley, after leaving the docks; retired from public life in 19701
- Honour
- Presidential Medal of Freedom, February 19831
- Papers
- 131 notebooks and other papers acquired by the Hoover Institution Archives in 20001
- Output
- Ten books1
Main ideas
-
Mass movements are interchangeable1
Religious, nationalist and revolutionary movements draw the same kind of followers.
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Escape from the self1
Frustrated people join movements less for self-advancement than to escape a self they think spoiled.
-
Men of words, fanatics, men of action1
Movements are pioneered by men of words, made real by fanatics and consolidated by men of action.
-
Working-class roots1
He wrote in railroad yards and fields, and insisted he was simply a longshoreman.
Questions about his life
-
Tom Bethell1
His 2012 biography raised doubts about Hoffer's account of his birth and childhood, noting a Bavarian accent and no Bronx one.
Books to start with
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Connections
Writes
Links
Sources
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