Daniel Offer – författare

As a group, normal middle-aged men tend to fly well below the radar screen of public scrutiny. They are neither deviants nor superheroes. Rarely the subject of movies or newspaper headlines, regular guys aren’t fabulously wealthy, nor are their ambitions circumscribed. They contribute to society, raise their children, and respect other people. Nevertheless, these regular guys have experienced their share of adversity and emotional challenges—such a divorce, death, illness, and loss of jobs—but reflect a continuing core of emotional stability.

Regular Guys follows 67 well-adjusted mostly white males, who were initially chosen during the 1960s, to test theories of normal adolescent functioning. They were reinterviewed at age 48 to examine male functioning at middle age. This unique, 34-year study contrasts the critical period of adolescent development, which has been culturally characterized by stress and turmoil, with the relative stability of middle age. It addresses such issues as:

 - Attitudes and behaviors concerning work, sex, religion, and self.

 - Relationships with parents, siblings, spouses, and children.

 - Coping and resilience in response to trauma.

 - Negative health behaviors (particularly overeating and problem drinking as adults).

 - Memories of their teenage years.

The authors’ findings are likely to be of considerable interest and use to clinicians and academics alike. In addition, the results provide a baseline as to what, by contrast, reflects psychopathology. Regular Guys provides a much-needed portrait of individuals rarely studied across several decades of time.

Behind every leader is an instructive life story. It often promotes a public image that inspires others to live by it. And, sometimes, even to live or to die for it. As leadership qualities and image issues gain significance in the public discourse, the psychological study of leadership is a critical factor in any discussion. With its trenchant insights into leaders past and present, The Leader: Psychological Essays, Second Edition, updates a pioneering text in this field and provides a solid basis for ongoing dialogue on this important subject.

Within the context of the ever-evolving disciplines of psychoanalysis and psychodynamics, this thought-provoking volume examines the lives of several prominent leaders from ancient Greece through the start of the 21st century. The authors explore how these leaders imposed their individual missions and mystiques on others, thereby fulfilling – and, sometimes, creating – distinct needs in their followers.  The volume brings into vivid focus issues with the potential for devastating consequences on the global stage.  

Coverage includes:

A study of paranoid leadership and its implications for future politics and policy.

This must-have Second Edition is indispensable reading for researchers, professors, and graduate students across many disciplines, including political psychology, psychoanalysis, history and political science, psychiatry, anthropology, and personality and social psychology. It is importantreading for anyone with an interest in the life stories of leaders past and present and how they affect our world even long after they are gone