# The Mystery of Eric Hoffer  ## Metadata - Author:: [[Tom Bethell]] - Full Title:: The Mystery of Eric Hoffer - Category: #articles - URL: https://spectator.org/the-mystery-of-eric-hoffer/ ## Highlights > No one had heard of Eric Hoffer until he published *The True Believer* (1951), a set of reflections about mass movements and those attracted to them ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbb4pxn0stzfe7fgfx4vf6f)) > Longshoreman Philosopher. From 1943 to 1967 he worked under Harry Bridges, the labor boss on the San Francisco waterfront ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbb4ypyfbjebcq3775900ne)) > adjunct professor at U.C. Berkeley at the time of the Free Speech movement and was interviewed by Eric Sevareid ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbb5gkamhsy3arxjv4f97wq)) > moved to San Francisco soon after Pearl Harbor and rented a room in a low-rent district ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbb638ng9a2h0p2y8gsa8mz)) > wrote *The True Believer*, using a plank for a desk ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbb69dfsfbses1hkh1rbka7)) > Before that he was a migrant worker in California’s Central Valley—stoop labor picking fruit and vegetables ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbb6dc3b519gy9xcakq5ra7)) > In 1934 he showed up at a federal homeless shelter in El Centro, California, close to the Mexican border ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbb6v7rsyth4qvfpda0y9ny)) > It may be that he had crossed the border from Mexico. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbb77n3vbj8f6k6jz415k13)) > Hoover Institution, Stanford ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbb7ftvqpey151mx3qxg7qx)) > To a doctoral student, Hoffer said: “I am uninterested in my distant past. I have probably told everything worth telling.” ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbba9hvjmp8mvv0hqrvydwg)) > Nothing can be confirmed ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbbanxj7tpp9gevn9ymkycc)) > He said he went blind for eight years, hence no school ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbbay0c28x5jedyqpzmjb6v)) > Hoffer spoke with a strong German accent. He told people that Knut came to New York from Al-sace-Lorraine. But young Eric went there, too, and found that their lilting accent was quite unlike Hoffer’s more guttural Bavarian ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbbbz792kkc7saa261hg754)) > up. He thought Hoffer’s case might be comparable to that of B. Traven, the mysterious German author of *The Treasure of the Sierra Madre*, whose identity is still unknown. (B. Traven was a pen name.) ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbbcvq5pk1ft1d7zr5x6zk2)) > always thought of him as an immigrant ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbbddn9mjf4mynb0m6vv9q5)) > The fate of Israel became an obsession for Hoffer ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbbee1jt58b8rk6scvh50gc)) > One of the most striking is that he could speak Hebrew ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbbeqpxv36p5fdwpt3x4ms8)) > He was also familiar with German textbooks on botany and chemistry, and these, too, he studied on skid row. That is hard to believe. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbbeypb5cwjfdbxdjgrfsft)) > *The True Believer* was not seen as a conservative book. But by the 1960s-especially after his Berkeley experiences-he became what we would call a neoconservative. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbbfcrtsq8x99hfw4ywsj09)) > The disappointment is that he never finished his book on intellectuals ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbbftmh8w4gz2s47e48n725)) > The intellectual knows with every fiber of his being that all men are not equal, and there are few things that he cares for less than a classless society. No matter how genuine the intellectual’s altruism, he regards the common man as a means. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbbg2w08kgn3pv5y7avxmm4)) > A free society is as much a threat to the intellectual’s sense of worth as an automated economy is a threat to the worker’s sense of worth. Any social order…which can function well with a minimum of leadership will be an anathema to the intellectual. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbbgaza7wcss447mqb2ma2v)) # The Mystery of Eric Hoffer  ## Metadata - Author:: [[Tom Bethell]] - Full Title:: The Mystery of Eric Hoffer - Category: #articles - URL: https://spectator.org/the-mystery-of-eric-hoffer/ ## Highlights > No one had heard of Eric Hoffer until he published *The True Believer* (1951), a set of reflections about mass movements and those attracted to them ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbb4pxn0stzfe7fgfx4vf6f)) > Longshoreman Philosopher. From 1943 to 1967 he worked under Harry Bridges, the labor boss on the San Francisco waterfront ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbb4ypyfbjebcq3775900ne)) > adjunct professor at U.C. Berkeley at the time of the Free Speech movement and was interviewed by Eric Sevareid ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbb5gkamhsy3arxjv4f97wq)) > moved to San Francisco soon after Pearl Harbor and rented a room in a low-rent district ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbb638ng9a2h0p2y8gsa8mz)) > wrote *The True Believer*, using a plank for a desk ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbb69dfsfbses1hkh1rbka7)) > Before that he was a migrant worker in California’s Central Valley—stoop labor picking fruit and vegetables ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbb6dc3b519gy9xcakq5ra7)) > In 1934 he showed up at a federal homeless shelter in El Centro, California, close to the Mexican border ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbb6v7rsyth4qvfpda0y9ny)) > It may be that he had crossed the border from Mexico. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbb77n3vbj8f6k6jz415k13)) > Hoover Institution, Stanford ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbb7ftvqpey151mx3qxg7qx)) > To a doctoral student, Hoffer said: “I am uninterested in my distant past. I have probably told everything worth telling.” ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbba9hvjmp8mvv0hqrvydwg)) > Nothing can be confirmed ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbbanxj7tpp9gevn9ymkycc)) > He said he went blind for eight years, hence no school ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbbay0c28x5jedyqpzmjb6v)) > Hoffer spoke with a strong German accent. He told people that Knut came to New York from Al-sace-Lorraine. But young Eric went there, too, and found that their lilting accent was quite unlike Hoffer’s more guttural Bavarian ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbbbz792kkc7saa261hg754)) > up. He thought Hoffer’s case might be comparable to that of B. Traven, the mysterious German author of *The Treasure of the Sierra Madre*, whose identity is still unknown. (B. Traven was a pen name.) ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbbcvq5pk1ft1d7zr5x6zk2)) > always thought of him as an immigrant ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbbddn9mjf4mynb0m6vv9q5)) > The fate of Israel became an obsession for Hoffer ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbbee1jt58b8rk6scvh50gc)) > One of the most striking is that he could speak Hebrew ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbbeqpxv36p5fdwpt3x4ms8)) > He was also familiar with German textbooks on botany and chemistry, and these, too, he studied on skid row. That is hard to believe. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbbeypb5cwjfdbxdjgrfsft)) > *The True Believer* was not seen as a conservative book. But by the 1960s-especially after his Berkeley experiences-he became what we would call a neoconservative. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbbfcrtsq8x99hfw4ywsj09)) > The disappointment is that he never finished his book on intellectuals ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbbftmh8w4gz2s47e48n725)) > The intellectual knows with every fiber of his being that all men are not equal, and there are few things that he cares for less than a classless society. No matter how genuine the intellectual’s altruism, he regards the common man as a means. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbbg2w08kgn3pv5y7avxmm4)) > A free society is as much a threat to the intellectual’s sense of worth as an automated economy is a threat to the worker’s sense of worth. Any social order…which can function well with a minimum of leadership will be an anathema to the intellectual. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gvbbgaza7wcss447mqb2ma2v))