Reading Paul Goodman – Hardcover

Reading Paul Goodman brings together previously unavailable interviews, articles, and biographical material that illuminate the remarkable range of Paul Goodman’s work in psychology, education, politics, poetry, and literature.

Paul Goodman (1911-1972) was one of the most wide-ranging and provocative American intellectuals of the mid-twentieth century. Author of more than forty books, he challenged conventional thinking about education, politics, society, psychology, sexuality, and the individual’s relationship to an increasingly complex America. The book begins with a biographical overview of Goodman’s life, followed by a guide to his books and literary career. It features interviews with several of Goodman’s psychological colleagues, concerning the early development of Gestalt therapy at the New York Institute of Gestalt Therapy; and also features an extended, previously unpublished interview with Goodman conducted by a doctoral student struggling to understand The Empire City, Goodman’s longest novel and a work more than twelve years in the making. The volume concludes with two contemporary perspectives on Goodman’s ideas about Gestalt therapy and social justice, and his contributions to Gestalt therapy and human development. Together, these materials provide a fresh and multidimensional portrait of a major but often overlooked American thinker.

The book will appeal to readers and scholars of Paul Goodman, Gestalt therapy, psychology, education, literature, political and social thought, and twentieth-century American intellectual history, as well as readers interested in Goodman’s continuing relevance to contemporary social and educational questions.