Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1974 and the culmination of a life's work, The Denial of Death is Ernest Becker's brilliant and impassioned answer to the why of human existence. In bold contrast to the predominant Freudian school of thought, Becker tackles the problem of the vital lie--man's refusal to acknowledge his own mortality. In doing so, he sheds new light on the nature of humanity and issues a call to life and its living that still resonates decades after its writing.

A profound, nourishing book...absolutely essential to the understanding of our troubled times. --Anais Nin

An urgent essay that bears all the marks of a final philosophical raging against the dying of the light. --Newsweek

Brilliant and challenging...adds another bit of reason to balance destruction...It is, in the best sense of the words, both scientific and philosophical...of the highest importance. --Los Angeles Times