Dawn asked:

Besides authoring The True Believer, who is Eric Hoffer? When searching the Internet all I receive is
quotes from the book. I would like to know who he was, his background. Perhaps an autobiography?

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The American social philosopher Eric Hoffer was the son of German immigrants, and by the age of
five, could read in both German and English. At age seven, for unknown reasons, Hoffer went blind.
His eyesight inexplicably returned when he was fifteen. Fearing he would again go blind, he seized
upon the opportunity to read as much as he could for as long as he could. His eyesight remained, but
Hoffer never abandoned his habit of insatiable reading. He was completely self-educated.

Throughout his twenties and thirties, he did manual labor. He was working as a longshoreman when
he started to write. His work was not only original, it was totally out of step with dominant academic
trends. In particular, it was completely non-Freudian, at a time when almost all American psychology
was confined to the Freudian paradigm. In avoiding the academic mainstream, Hoffer managed to
avoid the straightjacket of established thought. Hoffer was among the first to recognize the central
importance of self-esteem to psychological well-being. While most recent writers focus on the benefits
of a positive self-esteem, Hoffer focused on the consequences of a lack of self-esteem. He finds in
self-hatred, self-doubt, and insecurity the roots of fanaticism and self-righteousness. He finds that a
passionate obsession with the outside world or with the private lives of other people is merely a
craven attempt to compensate for a lack of meaning in one's own life.

You will find much more detailed background information in 'Eric Hoffer's Message for Our Time' by
Larry Barnhart at:

http://members.aol.com/llbarnhart/hoffer.htm

Simone Klein