Reviews

The Triumph of the Therapeutic: Uses of Faith after Freud by Philip Rieff, Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn

ashleyyll's review against another edition

3.0

Whew... Definitely can't say I understood it all so I don't really feel that qualified to review / rate it yet I finished it so here I am. I bought it because Tim Keller mentioned it and it's not a layman's text (or at least an extreme layman like me). He uses a number of terms / phrases throughout the book without first defining them, which was confusing. But there were some zingy and eerily prophetic one-liners - one that comes to mind is the reality that our culture has arrived at the point of "having the freedom to choose anything yet having nothing worth choosing". I don't get the impression Rieff was a theist of any kind but I could be wrong. Sometimes it was difficult to tell whether he was presenting his own opinion or the positions of Jung, Reich or DH Lawrence. Dang, he was really good at burning Jung (which my husband, a one-time Jungian, appreciated more than me as I read him a particularly critical passage).

danielmcgregor76's review against another edition

4.0

I have heard this book talked about and quoted so often it seemed on par with water in an ocean. The book however is a tough read. He is dealing with really complex ideas, histories and concepts that he assumes you are already familiar with. Most of those ideas etc. I had only a passing understanding of. Nevertheless I still feel like I am coming out of this book with a greater appreciation of our culture and the dynamics of the age. It would be helpful to read through Freud, Jung and company prior to reading Rieff’s work. I am glad I worked through it.