Albert Ellis: Evolution of a Revolution: Selections from the Writings of Albert Ellis, Ph.D.

Evolving in stages, the work of Albert Ellis moved from a focus on sexual liberty to the broader issues involved in living with neurotic people. He eclipsed Freud in quoted popularity among therapists as his thinking evolved into constructivism while maintaining the basic theoretical constructs of rational-emotive behavioral theory. Without question, Ellis led the way from the psychoanalytic model to an approach in which results were subject to meaningful measurement.

Ellis championed the idea that there was seldom a thought without a feeling and seldom a feeling without a thought. He argued for the cognitive revolution and neuroscience in psychology and psychotherapy as early as 1955.

Ellis's books and lectures endeared him not only to the mental health community nationally and internationally, but to people from all walks of life-first among his fellow New Yorkers, then ultimately as a world class self-help expert, recognized and admired globally. He has been called not only the father of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), but also the grandfather of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT).

The chapters in Evolution of a Revolution, edited by James McMahon and Ann Vernon, were selected to cover approximately fifty years in the life and work of Albert Ellis to illustrate the monumental contributions he made to improving the human condition.