Robert Jay Lifton

Robert Jay Lifton is a psychiatrist and author, currently at Columbia University, whose books include Death in Life: Survivors of Hiroshima, which won a National Book Award, and most recently Losing Reality: On Cults, Cultism, and the Mindset of Political and Religious Zealotry.


Articles by Robert Jay Lifton

Oppenheimer’s tragedy—and ours

By Robert Jay Lifton | Personal Essay, Special Topics
trump blowing coronavirus dandelion covid pandemic

Rejecting survival: How Trumpist denials of the COVID catastrophe impede recovery and renewal

By Robert Jay Lifton | Analysis, Biosecurity
atomic bomb memorial mound hiroshima

Atomic bomb survivors—A model for us in COVID-19 era

By Robert Jay Lifton | Hiroshima & Nagasaki, Nuclear Weapons, Opinion
"The Angel of Death," sculpture on a funeral gondola, Venice. Photo by Paolo Monti, 1951.

The psychological pandemic: Can we confront our death anxiety?

By Robert Jay Lifton, Charles B. Strozier | Biosecurity, Climate Change, Nuclear Risk
Hiroshima blast and fire damage, US Strategic Bombing Survey map.

Hiroshima and COVID-19

By Robert Jay Lifton, Charles B. Strozier | Hiroshima & Nagasaki, Nuclear Weapons
Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 & 2 cooling towers and containment buildings.

The false promise of nuclear power in an age of climate change

By Robert Jay Lifton, Naomi Oreskes | Climate Change, Opinion
640px-Cherry_blossoms_.jpg

Mind and habitat: Nuclear and climate threats, and the possibility of hope

By Robert Jay Lifton | Analysis, Climate Change, Hiroshima & Nagasaki, Nuclear Weapons

The dimensions of contemporary war and violence: How to reclaim humanity from a continuing revolution in the technology of killing

By Robert Jay Lifton | Nuclear Weapons