Beyond the Chains of Illusion: My Encounter with Marx and Freud

First published in 1962, at the same time as Marx's Concept of Man (150,000 copies sold), Beyond the Chains of Illusion is Erich Fromm's personal reflection on the overarching influence of Freud and Marx on his own life-work. Deeply troubled by questions of individual and social responsibilities, Fromm began his studies of these two giants-who, ironically, are ever more relegated to "the past" even as they are ever more intensely scrutinized today-at an early age. Fromm first establishes a common ground between Marx and Freud. He then proceeds to a unique and brilliant analysis of Freudian and Marxist theory. Throughout, Fromm shows how a sound understanding of both the father of modern psychotherapy and the father of 20th-century communism can lead to a single body of knowledge. This book has the quality of good literature: it is news that stays news, and thereby sheds light on Erich Fromm's thinking during a seminal period of his life. Continuum International is the publisher of other classic works by Erich Fromm (1900-1980), including The Art of Loving, To Have Or to Be?, On Being Human, The Essential Fromm, Marx's Concept of Man, as well as Rainer Funk's photo-biography Erich Fromm: His Life and Ideas.