Here Now Next

<p>Paul Goodman left his mark in a number of fields: he went from being known as a social critic and philosopher of the New Left to poet and literary critic to author of influential works on education (<em>Compulsory Mis-education</em>) and community planning (<em>Communitas</em>). Perhaps his most significant achievement was in his contribution to the founding and theoretical portion of the classic text <em>Gestalt Therapy</em> (with F. S. Perls and R. E. Hefferline 1951) still regarded as the cornerstone of Gestalt practice.</p><p>Taylor Stoher's <em>Here Now Next</em> is the first scholarly account of the origins of Gestalt therapy told from the point of view of its chief theoretician by a man who knew him well. Stoehr describes both Goodman's role in establishing the principal ideas of the Gestalt movement and the ways in which his practice as a therapist changed him ultimately leading to a new vocation as the socio-therapist of the body politic. He places Goodman in the midst of his world showing how his personal and public life - including his political activities in the 1960s - were transformed by Gestalt ideas and he presents revealing sketches of other major figures from those days - Fritz Perls Wilhelm Reich A. S. Neill and others. </p>