Power and Innocence: A Search for the Sources of Violence by Rollo Reece May (1909-1994) - 1972

283 pages with index. Octavo (8 1/2' x 5 1/2") bound in original publisher's green cloth with gilt lettering to spine in original jacket. First edition. Rollo May defines power as the ability to cause or prevent change; innocence, on the other hand, is the conscious divesting of one's power to make it seem a virtuea form of powerlessness that Dr. May sees as particularly American in nature. From these basic concepts he suggests a new ethic that sees power as the basis for both human goodness and evil. Dr. May discusses five levels of power's potential in each of us: the infant's power to be; self-affirmation, the ability to survive with self-esteem; self-assertion, which develops when self-affirmation is blocked; aggression, a reaction to thwarted assertion; and, finally, violence, when reason and persuasion are ineffective. Condition: Cover stained, previous owner's name to front end paper, underlining and marginalia throughout else good in a very good jacket.