Eric Hoffer

The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements

176 pages

This book presents ideas about how mass movements work and the psychology of people that awaken/join mass movements. The author uses examples of movements of all types from the past, as well as movements that were current when the book was written; and discusses in great detail many techniques used to form and hold them together, the many motives that draw people to them, and the similarities between movements that appear on the surface to be completely different in nature (e.g., secular vs. religious, communist vs. fascist, radical vs. reactionary movements).