Philip Rieff earned recognition as one of the most profound social theorists of culture and authority of the twentieth century. Through such works as Freud: The Mind of the Moralist and The Triumph of the Therapeutic, he proved himself an incisive interpreter of Freud and his legacy. His work now culminates with the long-awaited trilogy, Sacred Order/Social Order, a three-volume work on social theory and contemporary culture.
In Volume 2, The Crisis of the Officer Class: The Death of the Tragic Sensibility, Phillip Rieff continues his assault against the deathworks of our modern age. Invoking his theory developed in Volume 1, he develops his critique of our current culture as distinguishable only by its rejection of any and all visions of sacred order.
University of Virginia Press
Rieff, who died this past year at age eighty-three, was indisputably one of the most powerful American intellects of the past century, a man of almost staggering erudition who developed a faith-based critique of modernity and postmodernity that we ignore at the peril — let me say it — of our souls. His theory of the rise of 'psychological man,' or... 'the therapeutic,' is one of the most durable concepts we have for grasping the inner dynamics of our culture.
My Life Among the Deathworks is a hauntingly beautiful blend of poetry, ethical inquiry, and lament.
... Rieff is one of the most important philosophers in America. He has grasped with both hands the most important problem facing Western civilization and throttles it into submission. Anyone at all concerned with joining him... must read this book.
"Rieff, who died this past year at age eighty-three, was indisputably one of the most powerful American intellects of the past century, a man of almost staggering erudition who developed a faith-based critique of modernity and postmodernity that we ignore at the peril—let me say it—of our souls. His theory of the rise of ‘psychological man,’ or... ‘the therapeutic,’ is one of the most durable concepts we have for grasping the inner dynamics of our culture.— BookForum" My Life Among the Deathworks is a hauntingly beautiful blend of poetry, ethical inquiry, and lament.— The New Republic"... Rieff is one of the most important philosophers in America. He has grasped with both hands the most important problem facing Western civilization and throttles it into submission. Anyone at all concerned with joining him... must read this book.— The Weekly Standard"Forty years ago, in The Triumph of the Therapeutic, the sociologist Philip Rieff described the predicament of modern culture in terms so comprehensive, spacious, and authoritative that they were swiftly detached from their author to become part of the general understanding of things.... Now, at the age of eighty-two, he has published My Life among the Deathworks... it is a specimen of a type of sociology that has fallen from fashion: an attempt to ask the largest possible questions about the meaning of society and its institutions.
"Rieff, who died this past year at age eighty-three, was indisputably one of the most powerful American intellects of the past century, a man of almost staggering erudition who developed a faith-based critique of modernity and postmodernity that we ignore at the peril -- let me say it -- of our souls. His theory of the rise of 'psychological man,' or... 'the therapeutic,' is one of the most durable concepts we have for grasping the inner dynamics of our culture. --
BookForum"
My Life Among the Deathworks is a hauntingly beautiful blend of poetry, ethical inquiry, and lament. --
The New Republic"...
Rieff is one of the most important philosophers in America. He has grasped with both hands the most important problem facing Western civilization and throttles it into submission. Anyone at all concerned with joining him... must read this book. --
The Weekly Standard"Forty years ago, in
The Triumph of the Therapeutic, the sociologist Philip Rieff described the predicament of modern culture in terms so comprehensive,
spacious, and authoritative that they were swiftly detached from their author to become part of the general understanding of things.... Now, at the age of eighty-two, he has published My Life among the Deathworks... it is a specimen of a type of sociology that has fallen from fashion: an attempt to ask the largest possible questions about the meaning of society and its institutions.
Overview
Philip Rieff earned recognition as one of the most profound social theorists of culture and authority of the twentieth century. Through such works as Freud: The Mind of the Moralist and The Triumph of the Therapeutic, he proved himself an incisive interpreter of Freud and his legacy. His work now culminates with the long-awaited trilogy, Sacred Order/Social Order, a three-volume work on social theory and contemporary culture.
In Volume 2, The Crisis of the Officer Class: The ...