The Quest for Wilhelm Reich

Wilhelm Reich is variously known as a brilliant psychoanalyst, the founder of orgone energy, the author of several controversial books - including The Function of the Orgasm - and a man who died in jail, the subject of government harassment. In this fascinating critical biography, Colin Wilson examines Reich's life an ideas against the background of the shifting cultural and political currents of he twentieth century. Drawing from years of extensive research - including interviews with those who knew Reich - Wilson provides a revealing portrait of the genius and flaws of a man now regarded by many as a martyred mystic. The story follows the enigmatic Reich from his youthful days in Vienna, as Sigmund Freud's student during the 1920s, to his early experimentation with orgone energy - a mysterious substance that Reich regarded as the vital life force - to his exile in America an experiments with the cloudbuster and the orgone box - a device that led to his imprisonment in 1957, where he died a year later. Skillfully blending a careful analysis with a wealth of historical information, Wilson sheds new light on the mysteries and myths that surround Reich, and raises the startling question: Could Reich have been right about the mystical qualities of orgone energy? Both a challenging reassessment of Reich's ideas and a compelling recounting of his life, The Quest for Wilhelh Reich is a landmark study of a man whose life has been enshrouded in controversy.