5 comments about Making Time: Lillian Moller Gilbreth -- A Life Beyond "Cheaper by the Dozen".

1. "This is funny, you might like it."
   
   That suggestion from a long-ago English teacher introduced me to a book called "Cheaper By The Dozen," which in turn kicked off a lengthy fascination with the Gilbreth family and their other books. Along the way, I got a taste of the fact that Lillian Moller Gilbreth was among the more important women of her generation, up there with Marie Curie and Eleanor Roosevelt. But, as other Gilbreth-philes surely know, her children's writings only hinted at that importance, concentrating instead on her role as the family matriarch. This, the first full-length biography not written by a family member, is therefore a welcome addition to the already sizeable collection of books about the Gilbreths.
   
   Jane Lancaster's research is very impressive, as is her ability to overcome the surviving Gilbreth children's noted concern for their privacy. Through over a century's worth of private letters and papers, she provides a surprisingly vivid look at the family you thought you knew as a kid. More importantly, she provides a well-rounded look at Lillian Gilbreth, who even in early life was not nearly the demure introvert so often portrayed elsewhere.
   
   Though very much a product of her 19th century upper crust California childhood, she was quite independent minded from the beginning, as reflected in her decision to go to college, get married and move East while most of her siblings never left home. A lifelong Republican and a close friend of Herbert Hoover, she was nonetheless an early and effective advocate of workplace safety regulations, paid breaks, eight-hour workdays and, of course, women's right to work outside the home. (Oddly, Lancaster makes no mention of Gilbreth's views on women's suffrage, by far the most prominent feminist issue of the era.) In earning a PhD, she overcame not only sexism and the responsibilities of a large family, but a "lost" dissertation as well.
   
   There are also more stories of the children, although few of them are as lighthearted as the ones you already know. Chances are you'd already figured out that "Cheaper By The Dozen" and "Belles On Their Toes" were a couple of idealized memoirs, but if not, prepare to have your bubble burst! Lillian's long absences from home after Frank's death were quite hard on some of the younger children, and Lancaster suggests (without going into much detail) that many of their childhood memories were not all that rosy. Still, Lillian's heroic role in keeping the large family together through hard times comes through everywhere.
   
   I do find Lancaster's thesis - that Mrs. Gilbreth's reputation was shortchanged through her simplistic portrayal in "Cheaper" - slightly unfair. As at least four generations of middle-schoolers know, that book ends with Mother choosing to soldier on with Dad's business after his death and to continue raising all her children on her own. That was no small undertaking for a woman in 1924 or for a single parent of eleven children in any era. (If anything, it gives her slightly more credit than is due: Lancaster reveals here that she briefly sent one daughter to live with her grandmother in California.) The admittedly less-remembered "Belles On Their Toes" and "Time Out For Happiness" are both loaded down with accolades for her achievements both at home and professionally. Also, engineering is not like music, sports, art, or literature - the geniuses of the field, male or female, are generally remembered only by people who practice it. Still, Lancaster does have a point that this pioneering giant of her profession is too often remembered only as a doting mother. And she's done a great job of helping to change that.



2. When you think of Lillian (Cheaper by the Dozen) Gilbreth you can help but think of her more as a mother than anything else. The movie presented a story of a wonderful mother, but none the less, just a mother. As is often the case reading the book gives one a much better, much more complete story of her life.
   
   You don't think of a female engineer from her time. Engineering was something that a man did. Yet she was an engineer of some reknown. And being left after her husband's death with eleven children under nineteen she had to face many of the same problems that women have to face today.
   
   To see how she faced them so many years ago is enlightning. Just to see that all of that many children graduated from college is rather amazing even in our world.



3. The work of the Gilbreth couple has been influencing the way people work both in industry and at home since the beginning of the last century; and this influence has been quite underestimated, mainly because of the lasting succes of the books "Cheaper By the Dozen" and "Belles on Their Toes". The time has come to write a both thorough and neutral review on this work and to show the driving forces behind it. I am very pleased to say that Jane Lancaster with her book "Making Time" wrote this perfect review, which is carefully researched from the scientific point of view and very well written for the reader's pleasure.
   
   Ms Lancaster delivers several things: (1) A precise and complete description of the life of both Gilbreths (which of course is mostly the life of Lillian M. Gilbreth, because she survived her husband by almost 50 years). (2) A neutral evaluation of this work, where she points out that most of Gilbreth's work was outlined and carried out by Lillian M. Gilbreth, although Ms Gilbreth kept herself in the background during the life of her husband. (3) The creation of a well-deserved attention for the work of Ms Gilbreth beyond her (not neglectable at all!) role of a mother of 13.
   
   Having dealt with the work of the Gilbreth couple for more than 20 years, I highly recommend Jane Lancaster's book both for reading pleasure and for scientific work. "Making Time", in my opinion, sets the standards for the research on the work of the Gilbreth.



4. I just finished the book. Lillian led an exhausting life of lecturing, travel and endless writing. As the mother of 13 children, she puts us all to shame (with many fewer children)because of her unbelievable work schedule. This book does a great job of paying tribute to her life's work which is clearly well-documented.
   Although she did not promote herself as an activist for Women's Rights, Lillian Gilbreth took giant steps for all women because of her dedication to her family, husband, and her monumental career.
   Jane Lancaster has a beautiful command of the English language. This book is well-written without being intimidating. I would definitely recommend to anyone interested in juggling family and/or career.



5. Lillian Moller Gilbreth is well remembered today as the patient mother of "Cheaper by the Dozen". This book makes it clear that this was the least of her attributes.

   Dr. Gilbreth spent over a half century as one of America's leading engineers. First colloborating with her husband, Frank Gilbreth, she spent the first forty years of her widowhood on an intense schedule of conferences, consulting, and teaching, finally retiring near her ninetieth birthday.

   While the primary focus of this book is on Dr. Gilbreth and her engineering career, and the conculsion makes clear author Jane Lancaster's bitterness that Dr. Gilbreth is best remembered for the fictionalized mother of "Cheaper by the Dozen", fans of the book will find material to satisfy them. Several chapters deal with the family's life. Few of the many footnotes are simply to "Cheaper" or its sequel, "Belles on their Toes"--appropriate, as a later chapter deals with how "Cheaper" came to be, and that it was written not as non-fiction, but rather as things should have been. For example, the episode in "Cheaper" where Dr. Gilbreth spent a day in bed, and the children were convinced that a new baby was due, having associated Mother's brief bedstays with childbirth, was based on Dr. Gilbreth giving birth to a stillborn, thirteenth child.

   Jane Lancaster gives life to this pioneering woman engineer, unfortunately typecast by her children's books. Highly recommended.

No comments about Searching for Yellowstone: Race, Gender, Family and Memory in the Postmodern West.

5 comments about My Life Among the Serial Killers: Inside the Minds of the World's Most Notorious Murderers.

1. Dr. Morrison, if she is in fact an MD, seems to skip over the blindingly obvious in her assessment of these killers. I mean does she honestly belive that relentless phsyical and mental abuse from childhood and rape at 16 would have NO IMPACT on a serial killer? Is she serious? Does she actually still retain a license for practising medicine/psychiatry or, hopefully, has she been disbarred?
   
   
   It seems hard to tell as she veers from a fruedian perspective wherein all physiological inputs are null and void to a purely frightened and judgemental one, that the killers did it soley because they wished to where in fact she bases her judgements. Frankly, as a former defense attorney, I would run a mile before I let her get her hands on my client.



2. Her 'life' among the serial killers? Her life is among children and she will occasionally go get to visit the lesser known serial killers. What a pathetic attempt to capitalize on the 'serial killer' phenomenon...and to advance her own silly theories. Oh, and her *epiphany* that serial killers are addicted to killing? DUH! I think I figured that out when I was about 17 and had just begun studying serial killers.
   Do NOT waste your money.
   If you want a real expert, watch Dr. Michael Stone on "Most Evil"



3. Unfortunately Dr. Morrison reveals herself in this book and in her various TV interviews/documentary appearances as far too emotional, self rightous, and just plain in error when it comes to certain facts regarding serial killers.
   
   If I were to list all of these erroneous comments, this review would fill the computer screen. Let me just point out one error. Pg 24 of the paperback version...."No serial murderers are addicted to drugs, drink or even smoking"
   
   Interesting....tell that to Jeffrey Dahmer who used alcohol heavily in order to facilitate his killings. He was an alcoholic even in high school and would drink to the point of blacking out.
   
   This is just ONE brief example of heavy alcohol use by a serial murderer indicating an addiction versus normal social drinking. So how can Dr. Morrison make such an erroneous blanket statement as "NO serial murderer is addicted to........."?
   
   Just by nature alone, serial murderers are addictive...they are addicted to murder for one. It's not a stretch that, aside from killing compulsively, certain of these indivduals may also demonstrate other compulsive behavior such as addiction to drugs, alcohol, sex, smoking, etc.
   
   Bottom line...don't confuse yourself with glaring errors by reading this book. Instead turn to those written by more learned & practical minds such as Robert Ressler, Dr. Park Dietz and others.



4. This book is written by a claimed profiler. However, there is no profiling in the book. My favorite book by a profiler is Mind Hunter by John Douglas. In that book (plus Obsession), he goes into details of the crime scene and what things mean. You learn what it means if the killer covered the face of the viction (they knew them and were ashamed), young versus old crimminals, etc. Helen's book has very little details about crime scenes (we like to figure it out, that is why CSI is a popular TV show). No profiling information on the clues in the scene to help investigators find the UNSUB (unknown subject, I learned this from the Mind Hunter book), etc. Helen spends more time on her personal thoughts, thanksgiving dinner, her children shouldn't watch her TV appearances about killers, tea in the afternoon, going to Brazil, etc. and too little on crimes. She also is all over the place with her theories. At the end of the book she claims that DNA is encoded to make a serial killer, and with a stretch relates this to Minority Report, etc. However, there is a compelling arguement from other profilers that some event triggered the change. Ted Bundy was social until his long time girlfriend dumped him. Ted switched and targeted young girls with long dark hair (just like his ex had), and many of the others have abusive households. Helen talks about tv appearances and helping in the insanity defense for crimminels - I get the feeling that she is all about feelings, not a fact based person (John Douglas says that once the monster is created - it cannot be reversed - done). This book does touch on Ed Gein (leatherface from Texas Chainsaw masacre, Norman Bates, and others), John Wayne Gacy (the clown who rape/murdered young buys), and Bobby Joe Long (brutal rape and death of women). However, even a short TV special on Bobby Joe Long had many more details of the tracking and catching of him than this book. Helen claims it was seeing a missing person report on TV that led Long to let her go (he felt sorry for her?). But from other reports it seems that she talked to him and told him that she wanted to be his girlfriend - this threw off his circuitry. This second explanation makes more sense in the literature. Helen also discusses hypnosis (a relaxing state where both parties agree to participate) as a scientific method, acts as if satan worship killings did happen (this media hoax was uncovered), throws in Freud psychology (just about all scientists today believe he was just a weird guy with an infactuation for women). Helen seems to be touchy feeling through the whole book, I felt he was this, or that. She constantly talks about how the men treated her with disrespect because she is a woman - it really sounds like she is trying to prove something with this book. Detailed, insightful profiling and crime description rather than fluffed up theories that DNA can pinpoint all future serial killers would go a long way towards gaining respect in the community. This is my least favorite of this type of book, and I LOVE these types of books. I recommend you instead read Mind Hunter by John Douglas, Obsession by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker, or The Evil that Men Do by Roy Hazelwood. You will learn details and how the profiler's mind and experience work. The last book by Hazelwood even has a crime scene in the back that you try to apply what you've learned about profiling in. I did pretty well, because I read about profiling by Douglas, Olshaker and Hazelwood, not anything from this fluff piece by Dr. Helen (note: beware of someone that constantly reminds you that they have a PhD rather than presuade you through knowledge and facts - Helen, this means you! The only positive for this book, given the others, is that it had some non-US serial killers like a French guy (Gilles de Rais) from the 1400s. But not enough to warrant purchase. Get Mind Hunter instead!



5. No need to repeat many of the negative comments made by other reviewers. The main problem is the book succeeds neither as investigation nor as theory nor does it serve well as an introduction to serial murder for the general reader. The result amounts to a disjointed and often pointless text, despite Dr. Morrison's evident sincerity. As an admitted layperson, I'd still like to offer several background points that might be kept in mind when discussing the serial phenomenon.
   
   First, for good methodological reasons, researchers look for commonalities among the various case histories, as does Morrison. Such commonalities may then lay the basis for theory develoment and the possibility of devising more effective means of detecting and controlling this societal menace. Thus, there's good reason for Morrison's type of approach. However, I have yet to encounter a researcher or commentator who raises the possibility that there may be in point of fact no single factor or combination of factors that explain all the cases, that is, no so-called magic bullet.
   
   Morrison's genetic theory represents a reductive approach to a single physiological factor that would then account for all the cases. There are other magic bullets proposed by other researchers. However, the best we may be able to scientifically accomplish are separate groups of causal factors that explain some cases but not all, such as an "abused as a child" category or a "necrophilia" category or a "just plain sudden urge to kill" category, with no further reduction possible. Or, put another way, why must there be a single explanatory factor or group of factors to explain this wide-ranging phenomenon. After all, the world and the human mind are pretty complex and dynamic factors to deal with. Again, I'm not saying that research must not continue to look for a universal causal explanation. I am saying research must be prepared for the eventuality that there is none.
   
   Another point relevant to Morrison's text. Men certainly seem more prone to serial murder than women. Maybe that's just the result of the slanted coverage having to do with decades of reporting on "the weaker sex", or maybe the disproportionality results from women being more covert and less physically brutal than men. But in terms of the public record, serial murder appears almost exclusively a male preserve. Now, I don't know much about brain chemistry or its topography, or how men's and women's brain make-up may differ in that regard. Still, it appears that Morrison's physiological (genetic) theory must explain why this disparity exists. I wish she had at least mentioned this leading fact somewhere in the text and dealt with it in some fashion.
   
   A final point. Suppose Morrison's correct and researchers locate a common physiological factor (say, a certain chemical imbalance) present in all serial case histories. Now, it's not clear to me from the text whether Morrison would hold the presence as a predisposing factor or a determining one. If the former, which certainly seems the more likely of the two, then resarchers would still have to search for additional factors as to why some with that chemical imbalance become serial killers, while others wth that same factor do not. On the other hand, if the chemical factor is held as a determining one, then its presence would guarantee that the possessor becomes a serial perpetrator-- a pretty extreme and seeming highly improbable possibility. Nonetheless, if the imbalance merely predisposes, then additional factors such as something within the person's life experience will need to be ferreted out in order to provide a fuller explanation than a mere "predisposes" provides. I wish Morrison had dealt more explicitly with this pivotal question.
   
   My own belief, for whatever its worth, is that many (if not all) instances of serial murder result from male sexuality and difficulties in dealing with this basic drive. Of course, that may not be the magic bullet so many researchers seek, but problems with sexual release does appear to characterize a dynamic at play in many cases (e.g. Bundy, Gacy, Corll). Be that as it may, serial murder remains a fascinating topic for public speculation. Too bad Morrison's is not a better book on the subject.

3 comments about Pauli and Jung: The Meeting of Two Great Minds.

1. Wolfgang Pauli and Carl Jung were among a handful of geniuses who transformed the physical and psychological landscapes of the 20th century. Their thoughts about the nature of mind and matter, and the dark side of Western science's "will to power," are especially meaningful today given the material and psychosocial challenges of the 21st century.
   
   I found especially interesting Pauli and Jung's interests in parapsychology and the mind-matter interface. When intellectual giants seriously entertain controversial topics that confuse lesser minds, I pay close attention.
   
   Lindorff's recitals of Pauli's dreams, and Pauli and Jung's symbolic analysis of them, will probably not appeal to readers expecting ordinary biographies. But for those of us who are interested in rational, intuitive, and symbolic ways of knowing, this is a magnificent book.



2. This is a response by the author to a review of Dr. Rohrde, who apparently formed a judgement of my book without attempting to digest its contents. Pauli was a serious thinker who happened to believe in the collective unconscious. With Jung's help, he sought to understand his dreams, which he saw as opening his mind to the relationship between psyche and matter. Pauli saw this as having far reaching importance to him personally as well as to the future of scientific exploration.



3. "Pauli & Jung: The Meetings of Two Great Minds," David Lindorff, IL, Quest Books, 2004 ISBN: 0-8356-0837-9, HC 299/244 pgs., Notes 28 pgs., Apps. 8 pgs., Index 17 pgs., 9 1/4" x 6 1/4"
   
   This Ph.D. author worked & taught eletrical enginnering, later a Jungian analyser for 24 years in New England. No previous books.
   
   Chapter I stands alone to provide a meaningful chronology of the life & times of Wolfgang Friedrich Pauli (1900-1958), a child prodigy born in Vienna of Jewish parents but raised as Catholic. He studied at Univ. Munich, did physics research at Hamburg & later at Zurich's ETH. He soon became acquainted with renowned physicists as Bohr, Rabi, Born, Planck, Heisenberg, Fierz, Oppenheimer (visiting) & Einstein. At ETH he sought help in 1932 from C.G. Jung, psychologist, for despondency. When the Nazi anti-Semitism intensified, he left Europe for a position at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Studies in 1940, Einstein already arrived in 1933. Pauli received the 1945 Noble Prize in physics for discovery of the "exclusion principle."
   
   MAJOR FLAW to my mind: - more than half of the treatise, nay 75%, deals with Pauli's recital of dreams spanning sme 25 years (periodically from 1932 - 1957) for Jung to analyze. So now we have embarked on a phantasmal supernatural & primordial journey into the imaginary discarnate world of apparition, archetypal imagery bearing a host of titular Greek names as 'manadala', "acausal connecting principle" of 'synchronicity' embracing ESP, anima/animus, where basic treatment involves introducing the Ego to the "collective unconsciousness." etc. For mythologists this could be a precious piece of prose, but frankly I'd expect readership to be severely wanting. The book is not about God nor about religion, but much closer to an ideology embracing magic, mystery, palmistry, phrenology, & peeking at Peking tea leaves. Speaking of leaves, I'd leave this one alone.

3 comments about Acts of Will: The Life and Work of Otto Rank.

1. Acts of Will is not only a brilliantly written biography, it is a journey of hope for both therapist and patient. As the new century draws near, it is profoundly telling that now more than ever, the psychology of Otto Rank is so relevant to the world today. Obviously, Rank was far ahead of his time. His teachings of "psychological rebirth" and "concept of will" should be mandatory reading for all mental Health professionals and their patients. Rank's honesty in dealing with his own depression and suicidal thoughts will give the reader much hope that even the most brilliant person can face death, choose life, and make living an Act of Will.



2. Dr. E. James Lieberman's Acts of Will: The Life and Work of Otto Rank is one of the finest histories of the development of psychoanalysis ever written. His meticulous research provides the reader with an opportunity to look into the personal and intellectual life of Otto Rank,the most overlooked and underrated disciple of Sigmund Freud. What I found to be most informative was Dr. Lieberman's description of the interpersonal dynamics among the Committee, Freud's closest colleagues. Dr. Lieberman's masterful work brings the reader into the every day world of the pioneers in the field of psychoanalysis. His descriptions of the personal agendas, politics,personalities, and disagreements among the "Ring" of psychoanalytic pioneers helps those interested in the field of psychotherapy clearly understand the intellectual and political foundations of modern psychology. Acts of Will is superb in its description of the intellectual, economic, and political milieu of Vienna during the first two decades of this century and the influences of these forces on Freud and Rank. The author's treatment of the issue of Rank's own "birth trauma" before and after Rank's departure (exile) from Freud's inner circle allows the reader to come to his or her own conclusions with respect to the genesis of the controversy concerning Rank's "mental health". Acts of Will should be read by every student of Psychology, Psychiatry, and Social Work, as well as anyone interested in the fascinating history of modern psychology.



3. Lieberman masterfully illuminates the life and work of Otto Rank, Freud's most brilliant student and co-worker. This book expalins why Ernest Becker and Rollo May consider Rank to be the most dazzling thinker in the early circle around Freud

2 comments about A Mind of Her Own: The Life of Karen Horney (Radcliffe Biography Series).

1. This book is not only well-researched and referenced, but written in a pleasant narrative style that takes the reader through key events in the life of psychoanalyst and neoanalyst Karen Horney. Deft use of quotations from journals, letters, and interviews brings to life not only Horney herself as she moves through the stages of her life, but the historical background in which she taught, analyzed, loved, and struggled to trust the voice (in Carol Gilligan's sense of that word) which even Freud tried to disparage, emanating as it did from a woman--or as many of Horney's opponents were forced to acknowledge, from THAT woman.

   Horney, a brilliant analyst, did stupid things on occasion, as all of us do. She could be impatient, unempathic, and impulsive. Her cheery humanistic view of human nature may have led her at times to underestimate what Jung called the shadow side of psyche. Nevertheless, the impact and originality of her ideas inspired generations of analysts and sympathetic readers all over the world. She refused to keep silent in the face of dissent, and thousands, perhaps millions, of us are the better for her courage.

   The author mentions that Horney had a gift for inspiring the feeling, "She's talking about me!" More than twenty years ago, I picked up a book more or less at random one day, read it, and have been training in psychology--my own therapy, BA, MS, and now PhD--ever since. The book was Karen Horney's SELF-ANALYSIS. This fine biography helped me understand more about the analyst who stood by spiritually at the start of my own vocation.




2. There are two particularly interesting points of focus in Quinn's book, the more obvious being the development of Horney's work as the first feminist psychiatrist (and Freudian psychoanalyst) at a time when psychoanalysis was not acceptable to the new specialty of psychiatry (that itself had only just become acceptable to neurology by declaring itself to be a specialty of brain diseases). The second theme, a natural concomitant of the first, is the revelation that Europe just before the turn of the century--the time and place where Horney was coming of age and beginning her study of medicine--was, contrary to popular belief, rather sexually open (at least among the intelligentsia) and a time of great advances in women's rights. Her life, from her first diary entries in 1898 at age 13 to her death in 1942, was a struggle to dissect herself to achieve self-understanding. Her earliest work was a slight divergence from pure Freudian theory; her later work was a true Horneyan theory, derived less from the brilliant organization of Freud and more from her life experience as a woman and a human being. From the beginning, Horney measured the validity of Freud's theories against her own experience, concluding that the female experience was worthy of its own body of theoretical work. Quinn has allowed Horney to be human, painstakingly documenting her genius, as well as her chaotic personal life that clearly furnished much of the material for developing her own psychoanalytic theory.

No comments about To Cherish the Life of the World: The Selected Letters of Margaret Mead.

5 comments about Putnam Camp: Sigmund Freud, James Jackson Putnam, and the Purpose of American Psychology.

1. I purchased "Putnam Camp" for quite a different reason than most. In the early 1940s & 50s I spent joyous vacations with my family, Aunts, Uncles & Cousins at Putnam Camp. The details described are all there - the stoop where we spent our evenings, dining room with the selecting of napkin rings, singing THE SONG to the tardy diners, lady's pool & shrieks from the cold water, and last but not least the singing of THE SONG to departing guests.
   Of course every day was devoted to climbing mountains.
   
   Wonderful memories - thank you George Prochnik.
   
   Patricia Ehle Goodall, Darien, CT



2. Prochnik brings extraordinary skill and insight to this subject. In the process he tells a fascinating story that reveals as much about Freud as it does about the uneasy history of America's intellectual and psychic life. This is a subtle, probing author, erudite and relentlessly curious -- a bracing combination. As a vision of psychoanalysis in the United States it is indispensable. But it also, and startlingly, breaks new ground in our understanding of Freud himself.



3. I cannot overstate how important i believe this book to be. it is a book about a short stay freud had in america in 1909, during which his great discoveries were watered down for the american market, so to speak, and he was abandoned by colleagues he found he could not trust, particularly by jung, who appears a very unpleasant and nasty person. but the revolutionary material Prochnik has uncovered--stuff i have never seen, read, heard about, or even heard intimated, is that freud had no trouble with homosexaulity (this is more than just being accepting of it) and that he did not mind, even in himself, the fantasies that he knew to be homoerotic and that he himself fanatacized acting upon, on this particular trip with Jung himself. All these years freud's words have been twisted by his "followers" into a hate for homosexuals that he himself never harbored. yes, this is, for this gay reader, one of the seminal new bits of this endless puzzle of why we have been hated, somehow, and that this book, this quiet and beautifully written book by a heterosexual harvard scholar, may help to put right at last. prochnik writes about much more that happened on this trip; he has a cast not only including freud and jung, but also william james, emerson, ferenczi, adler, brill, jones, all the biggies of that day. and he makes you care about them. freud himself is made infinitely moving and sad in a way i have never encountered. by the end of this history, freud is all alone, no friends that once supported him and sat at this feet, his great system of treatment butchered by alien other philosophies of treatment that had nothing to do with what freud said. as i said, i could not put this book down. it took me three whole days and evenings to absorb it. a reader learns a great great deal. now who could ask more for a book than this! larry kramer



4. What I like about Putnam Camp is the assured way it uses a moment in history--Sigmund Freud's unlikely visit to a camp in the Adirondacks in 1909--to unlock previously unexplored material not only about Freud, but about the tentative beginnings of the psychoanalytic movement in America and the relationship of psychoanalysis to transcendentalism. Based on a cache of letters between Freud and Prochnik's great-grandfather, James Jackson Putnam, one of the early proselytizers for psychoanalysis in the United States and also the founder of the Adirondack camp, the book moves back and forth between Boston and Vienna and into the family concerns and intellectual anxieties of two very different men to paint a portrait of turn-of-the-century American intellectual life that is rich, complex and often very funny.



5. One of the thorniest (and most enduring) issues in the history of Freud and psychoanalysis has been the history of American misinterpretations of Freud and psychoanalysis. Prochnik's Putnam Camp uncovers the origins of America's infatuation with the science of the mind, and illuminates the fundamental issues that have hounded American ideas of modern psychology since their inception by William James. Prochnik masterfully places (and misplaces) Freud within the traditions of American Unitarianism, Transcendentalism, and Pragmatism. In prose both ironic and elegant, the anecdotes Prochnik tells of Freud in the Adirondacks amuse and enlighten. The book has strong narrative elements along with clear explanations of abstruse psychoanalytic concepts, which makes it valuable for those in the field, for academics, and for those in search of a good, informative read. In short, the writing is beautiful, and the gems Prochnik gleans from the correspondence are priceless.

No comments about Liberty's Quest: The Compelling Story of the Wife and Mother of Two Poetry Pulitzer Prize Winners, James Wright & Franz Wright.

No comments about Through Darkening Spectacles: Memoirs of Diamond Jenness.