Eric Hoffer Book Award Gold Seal © The Eric Hoffer Project

Each year, the Eric Hoffer Award for books presents the Montaigne Medal to the most thought-provoking title(s). These are books that either illuminate, progress, or redirect thought. The Montaigne Medal is given in honor of the great French philosopher Michel de Montaigne, who influenced people such as William Shakespeare, René Descartes, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Eric Hoffer. This is an additional distinction beneath the Eric Hoffer Award umbrella.

"I felt all the time he was writing about me. He knew my innermost thoughts."

-Eric Hoffer, from his memoir, Truth Imagined

Upon registering for the Eric Hoffer Award, a book is automatically considered for the Montaigne Medal. In the spring, the finalists are announced. This medal was introduced in 2008. Recipients can be viewed below. Detailed coverage of current winners can be found in the US Review of Books.

 

2013
* Evolutionary Enlightenment, Andrew Cohen, SelectBooks
* Red Fields, Jason Poudrier, Mongrel Empire Press

back to top

2012
* Comfortably Unaware, Dr. Richard A. Oppenlander, Langdon Street Press
* Transparencies of Eternity, Rubem Alves, Convivium Press

back to top

2011
* Coppola: A Pediatric Sureon in Iraq, Dr. Chris Coppola, NTI Upstream
* Proving God: Swedenborg's Remarkable Quest for the Quantum Fingerprint of Love, Edward F. Sylvia, Staircase Press
* Wednesday is Indigo Blue, Richard E. Cytowic, M.D. & David M. Eagleman, Ph.D., The MIT Press

back to top

2010
* Devotions to the Text, Steven Carter, University Press of America
* The New Akashic Records, Cheryl Trine, Essential Knowing Press

back to top

2009
* Disputed Truth: Memoirs, Vol. 2, Hans Kung, Continuum International
* Generation We, Eric Greenberg with Karl Weber, Pachatusan
* Red Zone: Five Bloody Years in Baghdad, Oliver Poole, Reportage Press

back to top

2008
* Long Shadows, David Giffey (editor), Atwood Publishing
* The Aesthetics of Equity, Craig L. Wilkins, University of Minnesota
* You Will Die, Robert R. Arthur, Suburra Publishing

back to top