Revolution in Mind: The Creation of Psychoanalysis - Softcover

Makari, George

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0715637754 ISBN 13: 9780715637753

Publisher: Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd, 2009

Synopsis

Based on new archival materials and a decade of research, 'Revolution in Mind' is a radically new history of psychoanalysis. It tells the story of the birth, development, and death of psychoanalysis in Europe between 1870 and 1945, integrating these chapters into a coherent narrative for the first time. Makari answers two fundamental questions: how did Freudian theory come together as a body of ideas, and how did these ideas attract followers who spread this model of the mind throughout the West? Makari contextualises Freud's early psychological work amid the great changes occurring in late-19th century European science, philosophy, and medicine, showing how Freud was a creative, inter-disciplinary synthesizer whose immersion in pre-existing domains of study led to the creation of Freudian Theory. He looks at how Freud's followers built a heterogeneous movement in the years leading to 1914, at the growth of the movement, and its subsequent collapse with the departures of Bleuler, Jung, and Adler. Finally, Makari examines the critical, but neglected, Weimar period, when there was an attempt to rebuild a more pluralistic psychoanalytic community. This reformation resulted in the broader theoretical reach of psychoanalysis and its greater acceptance across the Western world outside Europe, where the rise of fascism led to the destruction of psychoanalysis and the culture that once sustained it.

About this title

Review

'Brilliant ... a magisterial study' -- Financial Times. 'A brilliant book ... by far the best intellectual history of psychoanalysis yet written' -- Lancet. 'At last: a history of psychoanalysis without partisanship or rancour. This neutral and thorough account of one of the most controversial intellectual movements to sweep Europe and the world ... is greatly needed today ... An impressive achievement' --Literary Review.

'Rich and even-handed ... Makari's lucid and thoroughly researched book is an indispensible guide' -- TLS. 'Beautifully researched ... This is one of the clearest accounts I have read of this period ... He writes in a style that makes his book equally absorbing as a holiday book and a textbook and it will attract non-clinicians as much as practitioners' - British Journal of Psychiatry. 'Pioneering ... an important, even brilliant book ... An immensely joyful experience ... riverting' --International Journal of Psychoanalysis.

'By far the best informed history of psychoanalysis' -- Harold Bloom. 'Makari has written nothing less than a history of the modern mind ... an astounding breath of knowlege and an unprecedented gift for synthesis' -- Paul Auster. 'Rather than providing yet another biography of Freud, Makari maps out the Freud family tree with all its thorny branches, its disciples and dissenters' -- New York Times. 'A terrific new history of psychoanalysis ... a compelling, rich narrative filled with fascinating characters and colorful settings' -- --New York Post.

About the Author

George Makari M.D. is Director of Cornell's Institute for the History of Psychiatry, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Medical College, and Visiting Associate Professor at Rockefeller University.

Edition details

• Publisher: Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0715637754
• ISBN 13: 9780715637753
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 624