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.

The book argues that human civilisation is a defence against the knowledge that we are mortal beings. Becker states that humans live in both the physical world and a symbolic world of meaning, which is where our 'immortality project' resides. We create in order to become immortal - to become part of something we believe will last forever. In this way we hope to give our lives meaning.

In The Denial of Death, Becker sheds new light on the nature of humanity and issues a call to life and its living that still resonates decades after it was written.

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 more than twenty years after its writing.

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Denial of Death," a penetrating and insightful perspective on the source of evil in our world.
"A profound, nourishing book...absolutely essential to the understanding of our troubled times." --Anais Nin
"An urgent essay that bears all the marks of a final philosophical raging against the dying of the light." --"Newsweek"
"Brilliant and challenging...adds another bit of reason to balance destruction...It is, in the best sense of the words, both scientific and philosophical...of the highest importance." --"Los Angeles Times"

Uses the disciplines of psychology, anthropology, sociology and psychiatry to explain what makes people act the way they do.