Written in the decade before Freud s death, Civilization and Its Discontents may
be his most famous and most brilliant work. It has been praised, dissected, lam
basted, interpreted, and reinterpreted. Originally published in 1930, it seeks t
o answer several questions fundamental to human society and its organization: Wh
at influences led to the creation of civilization? Why and how did it come to be
? What determines civilization s trajectory? Freud s theories on the effect of t
he knowledge of death on human existence and the birth of art are central to his
work.
Of the various English translations of Freud s major works to appear i
n his lifetime, only Norton s Standard Edition, under the general editorship of
James Strachey, was authorized by Freud himself. This new edition includes both
an introduction by the renowned cultural critic and writer Christopher Hitchens
as well as Peter Gay s classic biographical note on Freud."
