This work is, according to Becker’s own estimation, his ‘first mature work.’ It is a book of eleven chapters, divided into three parts. Part I, ‘The Depth Psychology of Heroism,’ contains chapters two through six. Part II, ‘The Failures of Heroism,’ contains chapters seven through ten. Part III, ‘Retrospect and Conclusion: The Dilemmas of Heroism,’ contains chapter eleven. This work focuses almost entirely on an issue which was hinted at in the 1971 edition of The Birth and Death of Meaning, that human beings have a vital need to act out scenes of heroism in their lives. In order to see this urge toward heroism in the round, Becker was led to another extremely important point, that the idea of death, the conscious but mostly subconscious fear of death, haunts human beings like nothing else. This fear of death is a mainspring of human activity, and heroism is nothing less than a way to overcome it by denying in some way that it is the final destiny for humankind.