Man's Search for Meaning

Summary

As relevant today as it was when it was first published, Man’s Search for Meaning is a book for finding strength and purpose in times of great despair.

“This is a book I reread a lot … it gives me hope … it gives me a sense of strength.”—Anderson Cooper, Anderson Cooper 360/CNN

Viktor E. Frankl was a medical doctor at a psychiatric hospital in 1942 when he became a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps in World War II. In 1946, he published this book about his camp experiences and a method of psychotherapy he developed. Forty-five years later, it was still named one of the most influential books in the United States.

Part One describes his three years in four Nazi concentration camps, which took the lives of his wife, father, mother, and brother. He closely observed inmates’ reactions to their situation, as well as how survivors came to terms with their liberation. 

Part Two, introducing logotherapy, is an academic discussion of the psychological reactions experienced by all inmates to one degree or another. It solidified Frankl’s early theory that humanity’s primary motivational force is finding meaning in one’s life. 

In Germany, titled Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager, or A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp, its title in the first English translation was From Death-Camp to Existentialism. As of 2022, this book has sold 16 million copies and been published in 52 languages.