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Erich Fromm was a commanding figure in American intellectual life for a good part of the twentieth century, as well as a seminal contributor—though often a marginalized or overlooked one—to much of what have become the prevailing approaches of contemporary psychoanalysis in the United States. Originally trained as a classical psychoanalyst in Europe, Fromm went on to found the Interpersonal school of psychoanalysis with Harry Stack Sullivan, Frieda Fromm-Reichmann, and Clara Thompson, among others, as well as to develop his own singularly stamped, radical humanistic position, which encompassed and integrated political, philosophical, theological, ethical, sociological, and psychological conceptions into the whole cloth of his humanistic agenda for both psychoanalysis and human being.
As the definitive biography of Fromm was perhaps yet to be written, Lawrence J. Friedman's book was eagerly anticipated, especially given Friedman's reputation as an incisive historian of important contributors to psychoanalysis, such as Erik H. Erikson and the Menninger family. And while Friedman's volume is to be justifiably commended for the breadth of its prodigious research (including access to significant archival materials), the book disappoints in the end, as it falls short of meaningfully capturing and illuminating the essential heart and soul of Fromm, the man, and his radically humanist mission for both psychoanalysis and human being. Moreover, and of most significance for a psychoanalytic reviewer, Friedman damns with faint praise the importance of Fromm's prescient contributions to contemporary psychoanalytic ideas and clinical concerns. In fact, it may be said that a main thrust of the book seems to be to show that, in spite of his prodigious accomplishments and wide fame, Fromm was perhaps overrated.
Beginning with the title and throughout the book, Friedman seems intent on viewing and describing Fromm as a person with many so-called lives. Here he does not seem to be empha