Erich Fromm was a psychoanalyst, social psychologist and activist who played a crucial, but largely unrecognized role in the mid-20th century development of psychoanalysis and sociology, and in the dissemination of psychoanalytical ideas to the wider public. His ideas, expressed in books such as Escape from Freedom, The Forgotten Language, The Sane Society, and The Art of Loving, were central contributions to American and international intellectual life, garnering him the reputation of cherished “public intellectual.” In this landmark, first full-length English-language biography of Erich Fromm, Lawrence Friedman—amply aided by Anke Schreiber, whom Friedman refers to as “almost a coauthor” (x)—meticulously excavates the details and back-stories to the main events in Fromm's life (or “lives,”