Man's Search For Meaning

Man's Search for Meaning is a book by Viktor Frankl that describes his experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps during World War II and his development of logotherapy, a psychotherapeutic approach that emphasizes finding meaning in life. The book is divided into two parts; the first part chronicles Frankl's experiences as a prisoner, while the second part focuses on his theory of logotherapy. Frankl wrote the book in a reported nine days. Originally titled Ein Psycholog erlebt das Konzentrationslager (A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp), it was released in German in 1946. The English translation was published in 1959 by Beacon Press under the title From Death-Camp to Existentialism: A Psychiatrist’s Path to a New Therapy. The title was changed to Man’s Search for Meaning in 1962. In a 1991 survey by the Library of Congress, readers voted Man’s Search for Meaning one of the 10 most influential books in their lives. At the time of Frankl’s death in 1997 the book had sold more than 10 million copies. It has been translated into over 24 languages.