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Title: A penetrating insight into the psychology of mass movements
Review: Eric Hoffer offers a penetrating and deeply troubling insight into the psychology of those who allow themselves to fall under the spell of fanatical mass movements --- something to which we are all prone to a greater or lesser extent. At several points, though, I feel Hoffer could have showed greater sensitivity. I simply cannot recognize Hoffer's blanket characterization of Christianity as a mass movement, although there are pathological manifestations of 'religion' with exactly this character. Hoffer wouldn't be the first writer that failed to make the crucial distinction between true religion and organized neurosis. But this at least throws the reader a challenge: Hoffer should make us think very carefully about our motivations for what we 'truly believe'.
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