Rating: 
Summary: Post WW II philosophy still has something to say
Review: I believe the essence of "Escape from Freedom" can be found first in the chapter, "Mechanisms of Escape":"The person who gives up his individual self and becomes an automaton, identical with millions of other automatons around him, need not feel alone and anxious any more. But the price he pays, however, is high; it is the loss of his self." And second, under the chapter, "Freedom and Democracy": "This loss of identity then makes it still more imperative to conform, it means that one can be sure of oneself only if one lives up to the expectations of others. If we do not live up to this picture, we not only risk disapproval and increased isolation, but we risk losing the identity of our personality, which means jeopardizing sanity." "... We must replace manipulation of men by active and intelligent co-operation, and expand the principle of government of the people, by the people, for the people, from the formal political to the economic sphere."
Rating: 
Summary: An Interesting Insight
Review: I have mixed feelings about this work. Though it does bring up many excellent and rather disturbing points, it is at times a bit redundant. It reads more like a mediocre translation of a great book than a great book in itself. The premises of this book are far greater than the prose which illuminates them. I'd still recommend this book to those with an interest in the subject matter, but I think there are other works which communicate the ideas more poignantly.
Rating:
Summary: An Interesting Insight
Review: I have mixed feelings about this work. Though it does bring up many excellent and rather disturbing points, it is at times a bit redundant. It reads more like a mediocre translation of a great book than a great book in itself. The premises of this book are far greater than the prose which illuminates them. I'd still recommend this book to those with an interest in the subject matter, but I think there are other works which communicate the ideas more poignantly.
Rating: 
Summary: good insights into totalitarianism
Review: I'm not the most intellectual of thinkers, or the best suited to evaluate a book like this, but because we live in a democracy and I'm allowed to express my opinion, I think I will. I found this study of totalitarian systems interesting, if not always convincing because of so much psycho-babble thrown in. But this book shows how some people feel alienated and dehumanized and "left behind" in a democracy, and how such people are willing to submit to the fascist idea of a government and ruler who claims to care about them and taking care of their concerns rather than a dog-eat-dog "free society" where like in no other society you're left to fend for yourself. This book is a criticism of democracy's dangers, as well as the dangers that bring about oppressive autocratic rule. Recommended for those who like to read psychology and sociology. David Rehak
author of "Love and Madness"
Rating:
Summary: How one surrenders one's freewill for an identity
Review: The thesis of this highly illuminating book is that in order to escape a sense of anomie and its attendant seeming rootlessness many people resort to things in society that superimpose an identity on them, a kind of drive-up window for a world view if you will. Thus you get things like religious cults and Nazis at the extreme and Republicanism and Liberalism more toward the center. The ultimate message of this book is to think for yourself and try not to give in to the comfort of a group and its inherently limiting regulations.
Rating:
Summary: We are not free by choice, not by force.
Review: There is a lack of freedom in our world, even in the best of democracy.
Unfortunately, the only reason we are not free is because we choose not to be. In fact we are trying very hard to escape from freedom just like the title says and that is a very pessimistic thought. If there was a plot to keep us from reaching our individual freedom like some people think, that would be optimistic - In that case we could have a revolution. But the way things are we need billions of inner revolutions, and that's an implausible scenario.
All essential problems of human situation are thoroughly and clearly described in one place. If you are unhappy with your life, your surroundings, or feel weltschmerz of some kind, you'll find all the answers right here. It is incredible that book which is read so lightly almost like some novel, is so filled with wisdom and deepest understanding of human mind and it's problems.
In my opinion Erich Fromm and his entire opus are by far the most important event in Psychology and Sociology in this century.
Rating:
Summary: We are not free by choice, not by force.
Review: There is a lack of freedom in our world, even in the best of democracy.
Unfortunately, the only reason we are not free is because we choose not to be. In fact we are trying very hard to escape from freedom just like the title says and that is a very pessimistic thought. If there was a plot to keep us from reaching our individual freedom like some people think, that would be optimistic - In that case we could have a revolution. But the way things are we need billions of inner revolutions, and that's an implausible scenario.
All essential problems of human situation are thoroughly and clearly described in one place. If you are unhappy with your life, your surroundings, or feel weltschmerz of some kind, you'll find all the answers right here. It is incredible that book which is read so lightly almost like some novel, is so filled with wisdom and deepest understanding of human mind and it's problems.
In my opinion Erich Fromm and his entire opus are by far the most important event in Psychology and Sociology in this century.
Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT ANALYSIS OF MODERN INHUMANITY AND ITS ROUTES
Review: This book analyzes the origins of controlling and submissive personalities, in their being by-products of an alienated existence, and meant to overcome the uncertainty and loneliness that results, through the means of symbiosis with another human being. He shows that people are confronted with the contsant no-win situation of choosing between submission and submersion or aloneness and insecurity. Of course, he DOES pose a SOLUTION to this problem, that of a productive, creative, spontaneous, social personality. Needless to say this personality is incompatible with modern day capitalistic society, despite a possible extreme minority. If we want to be free and secure, the only solution is interconnectedness, and to live in a HUMAN society. THIS is what Fromm teaches us.
Rating:
Summary: May change the way you look at the world!
Review: This book offers insight into many everyday issues: thinking, feeling, wanting, character, individualism, politics, most of all freedom - the list goes on. You will learn what it means to have a false self including: pseudo-thinking, pseudo-feeling, pseudo-willing, etc. For example, when you have a "thought" how do you know it is yours? When you want something, how do you know it is you who "wants" it? This book also explains the rise of Nazism from a psychological and historical perspective, making it actually seem understandable. Fromm starts the book by talking about our experience as children from the womb to breaking away and moving into the world. The problem he describes is that people on the whole do not want to be free and want to cling to ideas that make them feel as if they were back in the womb. This book talks much about socialization and in my opinion parallels "The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge" by Peter L. Berger, Thomas Luckmann, which I believe to be one the best books ever written.
Rating:
Summary: Escape From Freedom
Review: This book shook me. It helped look into my own fears, and maybe changed me for the better. Fromm's tone is loving. I would have loved to have met him. Escape From Freedom also impelled me to read other authors, especially Frued, Schopenhauer, Stirner, and Sartre.
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