Civilization and its discontents

More about the book

Civilization & Its Discontents may be Sigmund Freud's best-known work. Originally published in 1930, it seeks to answer ultimate questions: What influences led to the creation of civilization? How did it come to be? What determines its course? In this seminal volume of 20th-century thought, Freud elucidates the contest between aggression, indeed the death drive & its adversary eros. He speaks to issues of human creativity & fulfillment, the place of beauty in culture, & the effects of repression. Louis Menand, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Metaphysical Club, contributor to The New Yorker & professor of English at Harvard University, reflects on the importance of this work in intellectual thought & why it's become such a landmark book for the history of ideas.