The denial of death

Winner of the 1974 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.

Of all the concerns that drive human beings, the strongest and most defining is the fear of death. This fear, which has accompanied them since their first notions of the world appeared in their minds, is the driving force behind almost all their activities, as well as the primary source of anguish. Ernest Becker draws on Freud, Jung, and Rank, among others, to address the problem of the vital mind—the human tendency to repress the recognition of mortality. Denial reveals itself to be the unequivocal source of much modern Western behavior, as well as its problems.

Winner of the 1974 Pulitzer Prize, The Denial of Death summarizes the main trends in post-Freudian psychoanalysis. Ernest Becker, a renowned Ph.D. in anthropology, managed to combine a psychological perspective with a mythical-religious vision in a work that remains relevant more than 30 years after its publication. Becker died two months before the Pulitzer was awarded. The author's enormous legacy began to be recognized only after the award. Today, his work is studied, researched, and taught worldwide.