6/30/2023 0 Comments The True Believer by Eric Hoffer![]() ![]() Sloan Foundation, wrote a second book ( Hoffer’s America, 1973). Tomkins told me that when he interviewed Hoffer, “the things he said about his early life did sound quite shadowy, but he was a great talker and he made it all seem authentic.” James D. The first, by Calvin Tomkins, was based on a New Yorker profile in 1967. Three books about Hoffer were published in his lifetime. I said that if you don’t know much about the first 35 years of a man’s life, “biography” may be a misnomer. Once he asked me if I was writing a biography of Hoffer. Thomas Sowell, a senior fellow at Hoover, was interested in Hoffer and compiled an index to his books. ![]() He and Hoffer worked together as longshoremen and Hoffer called him a “true believer.” He was in the room with Hoffer when he died. Also featured is Lili’s husband, Selden Osborne. ![]() He was associated with Hoffer over a 15-year period. Another close friend was Stacy Cole, a professor at a community college in Fremont. I also interviewed some of the few who knew him well, including Lili Osborne and her son Eric. It includes photographs and some unpublished writing by Hoffer.Įarlier, I interviewed Hoffer himself both shortly before Ronald Reagan’s election and then a few months later. In summer visits to Hoover, I went through those papers and now my book, Eric Hoffer: The Longshoreman Philosopher is out ( published by the Hoover Institution Press). ![]() Hoffer never married but about a decade ago his long-time lady friend, Lili Osborne, made his papers available to researchers at the Hoover Institution, Stanford. ![]()
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