Now a classic, this book was hailed upon its original publication in 1959 as "An event to be acclaimed . . . a book of genuine brilliance on Freud's cultural importance . . . a permanently valuable contribution to the human sciences. ...

"Philip Rieff has become out most learned and provocative critic of psychoanalytic thinking and of the compelling mind and character of its first proponent.

Offering brilliant interpretations of Kierkegaard, Weber, Kafka, Nietzsche, and Freud, Rieff shows how certain thinkers attacked the very possibility of faith and genuine charisma and helped prepare the way for a therapeutic culture in ...

Rieff articulates a comprehensive, typological theory of Western culture. Using visual illustrations, he contrasts the changing modes of spiritual and social thought that have struggled for dominance throughout Western history.

"The purpose of this collection of Rieff's writings ... is to trace the evolution of the 'Jews of culture' over the course of his work." --introd.

Collected here for the first time, the writings in 'The Feeling Intellect' demonstrate the range and precision of Philip Rieff's sociology of culture.

"In this volume, Rieff advances his thesis that the third culture of disenchantment, which is now more widely and deeply entrenched than ever before as 'our' culture, is distinguished by its rejection of any and all visions of sacred order ...