Paul Goodman (1911–1972) was an American writer and

public intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...

best known for his 1960s works of social criticism. Goodman was prolific across numerous literary genres and non-fiction topics, including the arts, civil rights, decentralization, democracy, education, media, politics, psychology, technology, urban planning, and war. As a humanist and self-styled man of letters, his works often addressed a common theme of the individual citizen's duties in the larger society, and the responsibility to exercise autonomy, act creatively, and realize one's own

human nature Human nature is a concept that denotes the fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting—that humans are said to have naturally. The term is often used to denote the essence of humankind, or ...

. Born to a Jewish family in New York City, Goodman was raised by his aunts and sister and attended

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

. As an aspiring writer, he wrote and published poems and fiction before receiving his doctorate from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

. He returned to writing in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

and took sporadic magazine writing and teaching jobs, several of which he lost for his

overt {{Short pages monitor * * *

External links

Public domain books
at

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Finding aid to video interviews about Paul Goodman at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodman, Paul 1911 births 1972 deaths 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American poets Advocates of unschooling and homeschooling American anarchists American anti-capitalists American educational theorists American LGBT novelists American LGBT poets American male non-fiction writers American male novelists American male poets American male short story writers American pacifists American people of German-Jewish descent American political writers American people of Sephardic-Jewish descent American short story writers American sociologists Anarchist writers Anarcho-pacifists Bisexual men Bisexual writers Black Mountain College faculty City College of New York alumni Gestalt therapy LGBT people from New York (state) New Left Novelists from New York (state) Social critics University of Chicago alumni Urban theorists Writers from New York City

Further reading

External links