Readers of Joshua Loth Liebman's <i>Peace of Mind</i>

In 1946, Simon &amp; Schuster published Rabbi Joshua Loth Liebman's bestselling book Peace of Mind, a self-help manual that explained how psychiatry and religion together could help individuals achieve emotional and spiritual maturity, and ultimately happiness. At the time of its publication, Liebman was a rabbi at Boston's Temple Israel and was well known from his sermons on the NBC radio program Message to Israel, broadcast in Boston and New York City. Significantly, Liebman was, in the words of Matthew S. Hedstrom, the first “non-Christian author to reach a mass audience in the United States” and Donald Meyer has called Peace of Mind “the book first heralding the whole flood of postwar religious bestsellers.”1 The book reached readers on six continents, was on the New York Times bestseller list for 173 weeks and the Publishers Weekly bestseller list for 147 weeks, and, by 1964, went into its thirty-eighth printing.2The significance of Peace of Mind lay in the way Liebman blended religion, psychology, and self-help and the degree to which his readers accepted him as an expert in all three areas. Prior to World War II, self-help books were gaining momentum, largely owing to the popularity of Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People (1937) and Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich (1937). Religious authors such as Harry Emerson Fosdick and Norman Vincent Peale also had a following. Psychology and psychiatry became a part of popular culture; discussions of personal experiences with psychoanalysis appeared in the New York Times, Ladies' Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, and Vanity Fair in the 1910s, as well as in books and movies such as Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway (1925) and Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945).3By blending religion, self-help, and psychology, Liebman's book provided simplified views and easy methods for incorporating faith, God, psychology, and psychiatry into everyday life to achieve happiness. As a rabbi who counseled his congregants, he recognized that many people had emotional insecurities, but they often feared admitting them or dealing with their mental health. According to Joel Pfister, Peace of Mind provided a “therapy for the normal,” giving its readers the tools of both psychiatry and religion to fulfill their quest for happiness. Both fiction and nonfiction bestsellers of the 1920s and 1930s reflected a reevaluation of religion and science, a search for new faiths and philosophies, and what John Tebbel has termed a “religious renaissance.”4 Liebman believed he was different from both clergy and psychiatrists because his goal was to bridge the gap between religious books that made the individual “feel more guilty and more sinful” and psychological books that added “to his inner confusion by making him feel somehow that he [was] a ‘case history’ in abnormal psychology.”5 Liebman expected his readers to accept his views on the compatibility of psychology and religion, but he invited them to interpret those views to best serve their beliefs in God, religion, psychiatry, and themselves. According to his readers' letters, they did both.This study's purpose is to explore the breadth of a sample readership of Peace of Mind: how readers viewed Liebman, why they wrote to him, what problems they had, how they read and used the book, and how it contributed to and reflected their values, concerns, and religious and psychological culture. It draws on the personal papers of Liebman held by Boston University and Temple Israel, including readers' letters, reviews, advertisements, church programs, and other documents that provide evidence about the reception of Peace of Mind. Of the 1,497 letters examined, 898 constitute my sample of “fan mail” and are the foundation for this analysis.6Few historians have thoroughly critiqued Liebman's book through its reception by readers, but three have provided brief analyses of its readership. Citing an unspecified number of Liebman's readers, Andrew Heinze speculated that most were women, Jewish, or both. He pointed out that women historically were often responsible for the “therapeutic tendencies” in both Protestantism and Judaism. Like Heinze, Matthew Hedstrom argued that, coming when it did, the book spoke to women who grieved for loved ones lost in World War II.7 Heinze and Hedstrom were both right and wrong. Of readers who wrote to Liebman, many were indeed women (though not most), but few specifically mentioned losing someone in the war, and both historians neglected to discuss Liebman's male readership.Drawing on her analysis of 133 letters from readers, Rebecca Trachtenberg Alpert summarized the breadth of the book's reception and highlighted readers' psychological and emotional problems, requests for psychiatric referrals, and appeals for speaking engagements, as well as journalists' requests to write articles about Liebman. In addressing readers' problems with marriage, family, sex, and depression, Liebman provided assurance, counseling, copies of his sermons, and suggestions to see psychiatrists or clergy. Although Alpert showed that Liebman's readers had indeed achieved “peace of mind” from reading his book, at least according to their letters,8 she provided no in-depth analysis of either their responses directly to the book's specific messages or their demographics. My deeper study demonstrates what types of readers read the book, how they interpreted religion, what knowledge they had of psychiatry and psychology, and how their reception of Peace of Mind aligned with Liebman's goal in writing a religious self-help book.Liebman wanted his readers to make full use of his book, and indeed, for those who wrote him, Peace of Mind was a book to be read, reread, shared, discussed, kept, and given. Many kept it on their nightstands next to their Bibles.9 One reader noted, “Your book already has been read and re-read, and I shall continue to turn to it through the years, for encouragement, guidance and solace.”10 Readers who actively used the book noted an improved emotional, mental, or spiritual state of mind through the deep connection they felt with it and the way it affected their lives.Those who responded to Liebman's book did so for a variety of reasons: to praise Peace of Mind, ask advice about personal problems, seek assistance in finding a psychiatrist, have Liebman speak at a function, translate his book into other languages, request autographed copies, solicit book recommendations to learn about Judaism, inquire where they could buy the book, or just say thank you. Many who asked for advice told Liebman, “You're the only one I feel I can turn to.” Thus Liebman excelled at relating to his readers, whether on a psychological, theological, or personal level. Initially, he wrote personalized responses, but later his replies became generic, thanking readers for writing and advising them to seek a psychotherapist or minister for assistance.11Few of the 898 letters analyzed provide enough information to assess comprehensive sociological data, but an overview of location, race, occupation, gender, and religious affiliation suggests there was no single, predominant type of reader. Liebman's readers wrote from urban and rural areas in forty-four states and were concentrated in the Middle Atlantic area (31.7 percent) and New England (27.2 percent), followed by the Midwest (22 percent), with the Pacific, South Atlantic, South Central, and Mountain areas accounting for a cumulative 19 percent. Unsurprisingly, there is a direct correlation to places where Liebman had name recognition, especially Massachusetts, New York City, Chicago, and Ohio, which together account for at least 47 percent of his readership.12 He also received letters from foreign countries on six continents, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Rhodesia, South Africa, and Turkey.Data on the race of Liebman's readers are sparse, but that he had at least a small African-American readership was not surprising. He participated in efforts to eradicate racial discrimination in Boston, spoke at Boston's NAACP annual banquet in 1943, and hosted NAACP Secretary Walter White at an event at his own Temple Israel.13 At least one advertisement for his book appeared in a black newspaper, where a bookstore claiming “World's Largest Collection of Negro Books on Sale” recommended Peace of Mind as a Christmas gift. Additionally, Martin Luther King Jr. mentioned Peace of Mind in his sermon “The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life” in 1960, telling his listeners that “we have a legitimate obligation: be concerned about ourselves.” In the outline to another sermon, King wrote, “People are more worried and frustrated than [ever] before” and made a note to discuss the religious books Peace of Soul by Fulton Sheen, Peace of Mind by Joshua Loth Liebman, and A Guide to Confident Living by Norman Vincent Peale.14These references combined with the letters from self-identified African Americans of various backgrounds and education levels indicate that Liebman's message fit within black Protestantism. One reader invited Liebman to his “club belonging to a Colord Baptis Church,” which had just started programs “for better regiliuous and racial understaning”; Howard University and an Alpha Sigma Phi chapter that had broken away from the national organization to allow the “admittance of Jews and negroes” invited him to speak at their institutions. A “Negro woman, age 33, of Christian faith and fairly well academically educated” asked for advice. Assistant Attorney General David L. Bazelon wrote that he “loaned a copy of your book to one of the Negro messenger boys in my Department,” who read and then purchased it. Civil rights activist Lemuel Marshall Wells inquired about recording an album of Liebman's sermons.15 Several other letter writers referred to programs or speaking engagements for eliminating racial and ethnic prejudice.Of the letter writers in the sample, 277 gave their occupations. About one-fourth were clergy and more than one-half of those were rabbis; about 8 percent were in the medical field, including 6 percent who were psychiatrists or psychotherapists. These percentages indicate how readers within therapeutic fields, especially clergy, looked to Liebman for guidance in counseling methods. Additionally, the reception of Peace of Mind by a preponderance of rabbis over other clergy demonstrates Liebman's influence within American Judaism. Other letter writers identified themselves as academics, teachers, businessmen, secretaries, soldiers, lawyers, librarians, booksellers, salespeople, students (middle school through advanced degrees), or journalists.Of the readers who wrote Liebman, 51 percent were male and 45 percent female, 1 percent were spouses writing together, and 3 percent were unidentifiable owing to illegible handwriting or signatures by initials only. These percentages indicate that more men than women were interested in reading a self-help book about religion and psychiatry, contradicting Heinze's and Hedstrom's generalization. One factor that skews these results is the number of rabbis who wrote to Liebman, but removing these from the equation makes the readership 49 percent men and 48 percent women. Women asked for advice about marriage, children, friends, relatives, grief, careers, loneliness, and religion; men asked for advice about marriage, God, faith, employment, careers, grief, and relationships. Thus gender did not define Peace of Mind's popularity, contrary to Heinze's and Hedstrom's assumption.Liebman's readers identified themselves as Jewish, Baptist, Catholic, Christian Scientist, Congregational, Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian, Unitarian/Universalist, nonreligious, agnostic, or believing in God but not adhering to a particular religious faith. Liebman's readership demonstrates that Americans were receptive to ideas outside their faith for how to achieve happiness. Of the 290 readers who claimed a religious affiliation (in about one-third of the fan mail analyzed), an overwhelming 69 percent were of his own Jewish faith, 19 percent were Protestant, and 2.1 percent were Catholic, with 3.1 percent identifying themselves more broadly as Christian. These statistics suggest that far more Protestants than Catholics, and far more Jews than either Protestants or Catholics, were open to the book's ideas. Many Protestants asked how they could learn more about Judaism, reflecting a growing acceptance of Jews in postwar American society. this of letter writers did not who directly identified themselves as Liebman responded to who to so one about the which Liebman had of with Judaism, the other referred to a of Peace of Mind at a church in to religion was more on than and could be interpreted by individuals to the spiritual of faith but were within and within to to American Jews in the postwar as their they to the and according to by religion but by argued that Liebman's book as an and As many people made an to learn more about Although Peace of Mind was not the for such an readers Liebman as a rabbi and often asked him for book recommendations to learn about Liebman fit within Jewish and especially Jewish argued that in the postwar religion no had Jewish or Christian but more to as a whole the of as such be as part of the of Liebman's beliefs within the of the postwar which held from and claimed it to Liebman's of individuals to of themselves and accept in to a better was in with of the in and a to values, to and to the that people of could together eradicate and a that Liebman wanted his readers to use religion to a of and to help them a He explained that the goal of inner was by “the and the and who achieved of mind by other such as and a variety of religious he that many faiths had God, and gave his readers a way to their purpose in the to God, and and as a to a and spiritual way of readers who wrote Liebman his into faith and God and his is from the religious it is gave an of a new about religion and to at the foundation of is the book the a religion at the time it to religious my religious beliefs better than wrote that it was “the most book I have read from the of of its psychological of the gap that religion from psychiatric of many of the on the between Peace of Mind and the with readers Liebman's book with the and both as personal to with and with other readers, through such as and their to or their religious were interested in how to be better at adhering to their faiths but looked for for dealing with from the 1930s and in popular religion to life God, finding through faith, and Andrew Heinze argued that the popularity of this type of that Americans felt the to religion for to their this many clergy their simplified of psychological and them within a religious the between psychology, faith, and religion, religious self-help authors reached than they have by themselves to of Mind fit within this and Liebman recognized that people did not search for from just one area but looked for guidance from a variety of argued that, postwar Americans were they often to for a new faith. received psychological counseling from their many of had no in counseling or The between religion and psychology to as clergy accepted the between the and them to their in their and with their their messages to a they on growing and their to popular and the for an growing number of religious self-help Although Liebman wrote Peace of Mind for the he also it to be a clergy to psychology and to psychiatric methods into their counseling and his readers of all faiths to such counseling from their with Harry Emerson Fosdick and Norman Vincent Liebman combined psychology and religious ideas to an minister Harry Emerson Fosdick to help readers of the religious experiences in by reflecting on the that people seek religious and the of Alfred and into his books to how psychology and psychiatry minister Norman Vincent Peale wrote A Guide to Confident Living directly in to Liebman's Peace of Mind. in psychology, the that one could not be a connection to the Guide grief, marriage, and to Peace of Mind, Fulton wrote Peace of Soul and viewed psychiatric methods as an that people to both God and few of Liebman's readers Peace of Mind to other self-help including Harry Emerson a and Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence Carnegie's book was not a blending of religion and psychology, but it the of self-help books to readers with their Fosdick Peace of Mind by it as and Liebman Fosdick as a and one of his and that readers out and read self-help books and Peace of Mind within that argued that and psychiatry were with the to help individuals themselves and their within both and spiritual Liebman's to psychiatry was people within themselves and out their Liebman a he psychology with As a he to the that all emotional problems from most he on he critiqued he the that and could new in not to Liebman was an As a rabbi who psychiatric methods into his sermons and counseling, he aligned more with the clergy than with his Jews were open to psychology, Protestants were the first to psychiatry and psychology into education in and were by the between religion and as well as by the with their psychology and psychiatry had already American by 1946, the of religion and psychiatry to achieve mental was new to and Liebman's Jewish faith provided his readers with an as specifically how and his American far the number of of readers of Ladies' Home Journal, American Good as the of a new of that had first that became popular was A General to published in in The about copies in the it first was published in the from which popularity can be to have The especially those in mass the acceptance by of them of the new and of the and of to all the new in medical It was who became most identified with the from a to a psychological of and psychoanalysis have Liebman to his readers were with psychology, he recognized that few it to their many of his readers, admitting their of knowledge about psychology, their to the of psychology and of the best books on psychology and religion that I have the psychology and I have been on a which and religion out of books and this one their right out the from the of to one more with in the World of the and to of both religion and psychiatry which are not thoroughly by the These readers already believed in the of religion and psychiatry as a therapeutic Liebman's goal in Peace of Liebman claimed to religion and psychiatry in he wrote more about how psychiatry religion than the and this of his One wrote, “The is that psychiatry the help of religion; the author to this in its full and and has to wrote, “The author as a of religion to new in his correlation of psychology and knowledge of psychology and psychiatry from to Many Liebman's and he new methods to readers with knowledge views of One reader called him the and most Many readers wrote to Liebman to ask for psychiatric referrals, often that they could not a did not how to or did not have one their readers viewed Liebman as a because he simplified psychology into for of reader but also because they with his Peace of Mind an psychiatry I “The book on I have and of that psychological into the of A psychotherapist noted, to with that the book the best of to it be most for I have recommended it to a in this and it is to the of to them about the of readers their experiences as letters provide of readers' knowledge of psychological of psychiatry, and views of or her or more use of and and account of a that a which had been in as a one was most wanted Liebman to these to or help them for so that I can at least a few of the which with A mentioned she of and had that I have known to from about her to her and that Peace of Mind gave her to of the results of and claimed that in my have to on that my was the of my and that her are to this or One concerned about her who was by the of people about had to but her had of and she was concerned about the she her “to be in with a who about readers about the way they used Liebman's ideas in their of in his words about the of A New York invited him to and three letter writers Peace of Mind for its One noted, have the book at and asked for copies of his sermons and other because there is that to for a better way of and it is mentioned how her the book at their reception of Peace of Mind from Liebman's that, in 1946, and a depression, Americans were and Although he did not discuss he and to readers on their better mental health. to Home and to what has called the for a lost Liebman recognized that Americans could not to or He his readers to of the and to in the and He his own personal about God and emotional and provided and of his problems and the advice he had achieved his goal with Peace of Mind because he the therapeutic that blended psychology and religion for Americans on their for happiness. He provided to the his readers how to use both psychiatric and religious methods to the they letters and responses they often “peace of mind” but also believed Liebman to be as a psychiatrist, and In a to one letter for psychiatric Liebman noted, “Your guidance is what I the book for people who either they wanted psychiatric help or who not it was

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