Let me say that this is the first book I've read by Fromm, and that it was a poor introduction to a thinker who shows great insight in small flashes throughout this book. One example of the small flashes of insight is when he talks about the essence of man as an "existential dialectic" between man as animal and man as self-aware entity (I'm not doing it justice here); or another example would be his trenchant reading of Marx.

I have two complaints about this book which loomed large over everything that was good about it, though. The first is how incredibly vague it is. Fromm will talk for pages about alienation and give an interesting, thoughtful diagnosis of alienation in modern life; but then, when he comes to talk about the solutions, he switches suddenly from a somewhat detailed analysis to something that is almost syntactically null in its vagueness. The second is not unrelated, but it concerns his (seemingly) overly trusting attitude towards globalization. He speaks in grand terms about how the time when we'll be "one humanity" will be an age of empathy, and that we all have to get over tribalism (which he defines, again, only very vaguely -- is defending minority languages tribalism? what about independence movements for Tibet, Wales, etc.?) if we're going to make it there. That he didn't see how globalization was to expand hegemony rather than empathy makes me question his foresight in other ways, too.

The waters here are really murky, but there was enough to interest me that I do look forward to reading more of Fromm when I get the chance. ( )