Fury on Earth: A Biography of Wilhelm Reich

by Myron R. Sharaf

Book Overview

'Reading Myron Sharaf's passionate biography of his charismatic mentor and colleague is like being engulfed in an ancient drama about heroic intention. True to its literary analog and human source, Fury on Earth ends in catharsis. I felt like crying upon closing it.'--Webster Schott, Washington Post Book World

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312313705
• ISBN13: 9780312313708
• Release Date: January 1983
• Publisher: St. Martin's Marek
• Length: 550 Pages
• Weight: 2.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Doesn't Seem Objective, Despite Excruciating Care to Be Just That

I want to say at the outset that the body- and character- based therapy started by Reich has changed my life and pleasure like nothing else has. I am grateful, and surely he was a genius and also courageous.... Psychotherapy is almost entirely composed of very nice people, both on the receiving end (patients) and the sending end (therapists). Sometimes it takes a not nice person like Reich to make it all effective. In character analysis terms most therapists are oral characters, and Reich was a psychopathic character (which is the one character type type Reich himself never explored!) If one reads Ilse Ollendorf's book, the difficult details of his narcissistic traits are there (double standards, jealousy, dominance, wife-beating, avoiding financial obligations, yet being generous where it would make a show etc..) even though she does tries to justify it with his genius. Sharaf though, goes to great complicated apologistic length to portray Reich as someone to whom usual standards can't apply. perhaps the usual yardsticks don't apply, but I think the usual standards of justice and fairness should apply to him. It does seem however that Reich had enough of a self-reflective process to avoid being as exploitative as his character type often is. No other book on Reich gives so much detail. But this book does not give any clear picture of how Reich was like to spend time with. That usually indicates that those around him were blinded in some way... Oral characters often pick psychopathic characters to be Messiahs because they are then supplied with necessary aggression by proxy. That can be useful synergism if a cult does not form out of it.

What a MAN.

I knew Myron, call me Myron, not Dr. Sharaf, a wonderful, sweet, tiger of a man. The only person who could over shadow Myron was Dr.Reich. Myron's biography is only as fascinating as the man he is trying to describe. The problem we all face is how do we stand in the shadow of Dr. Reich. Myron all biographers face the impossible task of describing a revolutionary force beyond its understanding. So it doesn't matter how thorough Fury on Earth is and Myron was there with Dr. Reich it has to fail. With Dr. Reich you are dealing with a Da.Vinci of our times. His discoveries will take us a thousand years to appreciate. Not only did Reich discover and quantify the primordial energy he discovered how to show his patients the way to feel this energy. How to be alive and feel is a miricle that Reich gave to humanity. Only the totally confused would doubt Reich's sanity. Dr. Reich deserves our eternal debt. Thank you Myron.

A superb book for anyone interested in Reich

Wilhelm Reich was many things in his lifetime- a student of Freud, a political activist, a research scientist, and an inventor. His work was decades ahead of its time and is finally being rediscovered and reevaluated by the public. If, like me, you are interested in Reich and his work, you might want to check out a novel called We All Fall Down, by Brian Caldwell. it draws heavily on Reich's theories, particularly Listen Little Man and The Mass Psychology Of Facism. It's a great introduction to Reich's work and the entire novel draws heavily on his theory. It's very interesting watching an author explore his theories in a fictional setting. Well worth reading.

An Astonishing Biography

This has to be one of the best biographies ever written. It is certainly the best ever written about Reich. You will not be able to put it down or forget it after you've read it. The effort that went into presenting all of the aspects of Reich's life and work is staggering. That extraordinary flame of humanity, Willhelm Reich, is presented here as never before. Bravo!

Mad, bad and dangerous to know.

An extraordinary read, totally compelling as you follow Reich through the traumas of the twentieth century, his own grip on reality fragmenting all the time. And yet he remains a strangely attractive character - sure he is a "crackpot" but the book forces you to re-examine conventional views of society and science. The author, although obviously an enthusiast for Reich's idiosyncratic "Weltanschauung", never flinches from describing Reich's rampant excesses. Ultimately, you're left with a sense of sadness that the world proved too small a space for Reich and the nagging feeling that time will increasingly vindicate his extraordinary ideas.