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  • The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker book cover
  • The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker book cover
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The Denial of Death

by Ernest Becker

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Mortality, culture, and the human condition

$18.33 USD
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Paperback New English

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Awards & Recognition

  • Award recognition

    1974 Pulitzer Prize winner

    The book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1974.

AlbakiReads Editorial

Mortality, culture, and the human condition

Ernest Becker examines how awareness of death shapes human behavior and cultural life. The book centers on what he calls the “vital lie”: refusing to acknowledge one’s own mortality. In developing this argument, Becker sets his approach against the predominant Freudian school of thought and connects the question of death to broader questions about human existence. The result is a work of social and psychological inquiry that treats mortality not only as an individual concern, but as a force with consequences for cultures and for how people live.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in psychology and cultural anthropology
  • Readers exploring death, mortality, and human existence
  • Readers interested in theories that challenge Freudian approaches

Themes

Mortality and human behaviorCultural responses to deathPsychology and human existence

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, The Denial of Death explores how people and cultures around the world have reacted to the concept of death from celebrated cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1974 and the culmination of a life's work, The Denial of Death is Ernest Becker's brilliant and impassioned answer to the "why" of human existence. In bold contrast to the predominant Freudian school of thought, Becker tackles the problem of the vital lie--man's refusal to acknowledge his own mortality. In doing so, he sheds new light on the nature of humanity and issues a call to life and its living that still resonates decades after its writing.
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