File:Eric_Hoffer_in_LBJ_Oval_Office.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
OverviewAI-generated
Eric Hoffer was an American writer, philosopher, psychologist, and sociologist. Born in New York City, he died in San Francisco. His professional work focused on social psychology, and he was employed by the University of California, Berkeley. Hoffer was an atheist and spoke English. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
His notable works include *The Ordeal of Change*, *The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements*, *Before the Sabbath*, *First things, last things*, and *The temper of our time*. He is also quoted as saying, "Wordiness is a sickness of American writing. Too many words dilute and blur ideas."
Synthesized by Vinony from 27 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Last.fm, Wikiquote, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Key facts
- Born
- ( 1902-07-25 ) July 25, 1902, New York City, U.S.
- Died
- May 21, 1983 (1983-05-21) (aged 80), San Francisco, California, U.S.
- Occupation
- Author, longshoreman
- Genre
- Philosophy , social criticism
- Notable awards
- Presidential Medal of Freedom , 1983
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Eric
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- New York City
- Place of death
- San Francisco
- Occupation
- sociologist
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Religion
- atheism
- Field of work
- social psychology
- Image
- Eric Hoffer in LBJ Oval Office.jpg
Show 3 more facts
- date of birth
- 1902-07-25
- date of death
- 1983-05-21
- Commons category
- Eric Hoffer
via Wikidata · CC0
~13 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Eric Hoffer (July 25, 1902 – May 21, 1983) was an American philosopher and social critic. A conservative moderate with an atypical working-class background, Hoffer wrote ten books over his career and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in February 1983. His first book, The True Believer (1951), was widely recognized as a classic, receiving critical acclaim from both scholars and laymen, although Hoffer believed that The Ordeal of Change (1963) was his finest work. The Eric Hoffer Book Award is an international literary prize established in his honor. The University of California, Berkeley awards an annual literary prize named jointly for Hoffer.
Early life
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Eric Hoffer” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.