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Podcast: New Books in Sociology
Episode: Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements" (1951)
Description: A stevedore on the San Francisco docks in the 1940s, who eventually taught at the University of California at Berkeley, Eric Hoffer wrote philosophical treatises in his spare time while living in the railroad yards. The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movementsâthe first and most famous of his booksâwas made into a bestseller when President Eisenhower cited it during one of the earliest television press conferences.Called a âbrilliant and original inquiryâ and âa genuine contribution to our social thoughtâ by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., this landmark in the field of social psychology is completely...