Psyche and Soul in America

In post-World War II America and especially during the turbulent 1960s and 1970s the psychologist Rollo May contributed profoundly to the popular and professional response to a widely felt sense of personal emptiness amid a culture in crisis. May addressed the sources of depression powerlessness and conformity but also mapped a path to restore authentic individuality intimacy creativity and community. A psychotherapist by trade he employed theology philosophy literature and the arts to answer a central enduring question: How then shall we live? <p/>Robert Abzug's definitive biography traces May's epic life from humble origins in the Protestant heartland of the Midwest to his longtime practice in New York City and his participation in the therapeutic culture of California. May's books--<em>Love and Will</em> <em>Man's Search for Himself</em> <em>The Courage to</em> <em>Create</em> and others--as well as his championing of non-medical therapeutic practice and introduction of Existential psychotherapy to America marked important contributions to the profession. Most of all May's compelling prose reached millions of readers from all walks of life finding their place as Noah Adams noted in his NPR eulogy on a hippy's bookshelf. And May was one of the founders of the humanistic psychology movement that has shaped the very vocabulary with which many Americans describe their emotional and spiritual lives. <p/>Based on full and uncensored access to May's papers and original oral interviews <em>Psyche and Soul in America </em>reveals his turbulent inner life his religious crises and their influence on his contribution to the world of psychotherapy and the culture beyond. It adds new and intimate dimensions to an important aspect of America's romance with therapy as the site for the exploration of spiritual strivings and moral dilemmas unmet for many by traditional religion.<br>