Product Description
From John Smith to Jack Kerouc, Cotton Mather to Toni Morrison, Edgar Allan Poe to Stephen King, the story of American literature is many stories - of ancient-indigenous peoples, early settlers, men and women enslaved and liberated, war and peace, and immigrants seeking better lives. Over 10 years in the making, this comprehensive single-volume literary survey is for scholar, student and the general reader, and will serve as a guide and companion to the study and appreciation of American literature. ... Read more

Product Description
This work is the first comprehensive text in the field ofpsychohistory that presents both the theory and the practice of thisinterdisciplinary field. The presentation of psychoanalytic theory inthis work includes the fundamental contributions made by Freud as wellas the post-Freudian developments. Another unique feature of thiswork, because psychohistory is so controversial, is that the pros andcons are presented, thereby putting the field in better relief. Thiswork accentuates how psychohistory differs from traditional history,and how psychohistory is more insightful in the study of theindividual, the family, and the group. In sum, Psychohistory: Theoryand Practice demonstrates how psychohistory is transforming the studyof history and why psychohistory is so promising for our understandingof mankind. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

It is an INTRODUCTION
Simply put, this is what it says it is, an Introduction to the field of Psychohistory.It traces the historiography of the field from Freud onwards.It does attempt to address both pro- and con- "sides" regarding the relevancy of the discipline, but the Szaluta is undoubtedly a proponent. All in all, the book reads fairly easily and provides a decent list of sources.

On a side note, [Full Disclosure: I was taught by Prof. Szaluta almost 20 years ago] it appears that any time anyone but Lloyd deMause or his proteges attempt to describe the field they are summarily attacked as psychohistory apostates of some sort.DeMause is a leading figure in the field, there is no doubt, but he also has a tendency to disclaim the validity of almost any other form or method of psychohistory that does not match his own theories.Please take that into consideration. Enough about deMause, though. Let's say he is and influential figure and leave it at that.

To refocus, Szaluta's book may seem simplistic or garbled to experts, but to this reviewer--and to the average reader, I suspect--it was a perfectly readable and understandable introduction to a controversial field.

Bias in Book Reviewing
Unfortunately Amazon.com's system of reader reviews permits uninformed bias to enter and remain in the system without (in most cases) any attempt at editing or correction. The two reviews from King's Point appear to be from the same person, who REALLY doesn't like this book. Fair enough for one such opinion, but two is at least one too much. The review from the Netherlands appears to reflect a different sort of uninformed bias -- its author likes quite another approach (de Mause's version of psychohistory), and thus happily trashes a book on the basis of second-hand opinions. I don't feel Szaluta's book is the best in the field (as one of the blurbs has it) -- far from it. But it's a decent attempt at an introduction to psychohistory as most scholars in the field understand the term "psychohistory." If you want really sophisticated examples of psychohistory, try nearly any book by Erik Erikson or by William M. Runyan.

There are no words...
This book is horrible. There is no way to describe it. I wouldn't recommend this book to my worst enemy. If you are interested in finding out what psychohistory is really all about you need to find another book not written by Jacques Szaluta.
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PsychoCRAP
This book is horrible. No one should have the displeasure of reading it. I was forced to. The author is so biased it is unreasonable. He spends most of the book attempting to defend the made up field of psychohistory, and does so poorly. When this guy was figuring out what to study in college he made a very poor choice. The author likes to think of himself as being on the cutting edge of a new and exciting field, when in reality he has wasted time, effort, and his life studying a questionable field, that is neither scientific, medical, historical, or anything. After reading his collection of psychobable I am drawn to the conclusion that his parents didn't love him when he was a child.

This book is [weak]!
As I have understood recently out of quite reliable sources, this book is hopelessly outdated. It consists out of a completely unedited translation of the French version that appeared about ten years ago. People that are *seriously* interested in Psychohistory better buy Lloyd DeMause's most recent book "The Emotional Life of Nations" ...(DeMause's "History of Childhood" is a MUST HAVE for anyone concerned with Wilhelm Reich's "Children of the Future"... ... Read more

Product Description
Publisher: G. P. Putnam's sonsPublication date: 1887Subjects: American literatureComputers / Data Processing / Storage ... Read more