Psychoanalysis

School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up A first look at Freud's life and ideas, this book (title aside) should not be mistaken for a historical survey of the field he created. Neither is it a critical review of his work. But what it does, it does well. Stwertka is a re markably clear explainer of basic psy choanalytic concepts. She has made the book exceptionally readable by us ing Freud's life story as an engaging structure on which to display his theo ries. While Stwertka concedes that Freud built on previous work and put forth untestable notions, she often gives his theorizing the weight of fact and asserts his absolute priority. The medical model of behavioral disorders is largely accepted here. The final chap ter (which shows an unsettling bent for clinching points by citing public broad casting programs) gives only a cursory glimpse of post-Freud state of the art. Evocative photos of Freud and his fam ily throughout are an asset, but the handful showing modern therapy situations are singularly uninformative; all photos, even the recent ones, are mud dy. The glossary, although lacking some terms used in the text (mind, emotion, soul), is helpful. Altogether an excellent if reverent abstract of what high-school graduates should know about Freud's thought. Paul Bogrow, Pasadena , Calif.