Author Description

Viennese psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich was one of the most influential and notorious thinkers of the 20th century; an eccentric pioneer of sexual liberation who prepared the way for the erotic enthusiasms of the 1960s.His practice was based on his theories of 'orgone energy'. Reich placed subjects in a tall, slender construction called the orgone box which he believed would elevate 'orgastic potential', rid the body of repressive forces, improve sexual potency, and enhance overall health. Reich's sexual and political theories caught on, famously among countercultural writers and artists in America—Ginsberg, Burroughs, Mailer and Bellow. Meanwhile, as he was hailed as the leader of 'a new cult of sex and anarchy', Reich faced one debacle after another: professional denouncements, personal and political accusations, and bouts of mental illness.With his startling and at times bizarre story, Christopher Turner takes us to the dawn of the sexual revolution and brilliantly narrates its fitful, conflicted progress.