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Bernard Landis and Edward S. Tauber, Eds.: In the Name of Life: Essays in Honor of Erich Fromm
New York: Holt, Rhinehart and Winston, 1972.
THERE COME MOMENTS in our lives when a clear event makes us aware of our acquiescence to mediocrity. Such event may be the suprise of the fresh smell of the country when we leave the stale, polluted atmosphere of the city. The event may be a well-tended front patch garden amid the weedy neglect that has crept into city streets, expressing contempt for the passersby. The event may be the taste of a good bread that reaffirms how delicious this daily staple can be, or a movie that electrifies us with its opening flash, as we know instantaneously that here is quality. So it is with a book that hits the mark of what it undertakes and fills us with joy and gratitude for just that quality of performance.
Thus the book In the Name of Life: Essays in Honor of Fromm, edited by Landis and Tauber. I am not referring to the quality of the collected essays, though many of them are outstanding, but to the inspiration of having found a concept of honoring Fromm, which so well reflects the essential core of Fromm's message. Already the title of the book, "In the Name of Life, " gives the reader the frame of reference which gives meaning to everything else. Fromm knows we are, as human beings, caught in the balance between destructive bondage and creative freedom. He believes in the vision of our potential for a creative, productive, and loving existence. But he also knows that we can meander down the wrong road. Thus he has devoted his