Psychoanalytic Pioneers is an
interesting book, published in 1966, which is shaped like an
encyclopedia. It is edited by Samuel Eisenstein and Martin Grotjahn, but
is written by almost 40 different authors. Each chapter deals with one
psychoanalyst and an author presents a summary of his life and work.
There is a chapter that presents the history of psychoanalysis in
England and another one in the United States.
The
book serves as a first contact with the authors mentioned. They are not
very detailed, which is to be expected because of its shape. However,
it covers an impressive amount of psychoanalysts in its more than 600
pages.
The authors presents the
most popular (like Abraham, Ferenczi, Rank) but also some who are not
widely read (Rado, Deutsch, Tausk, Starck). There are also a number of
psychoanalysts who have migrated to the United States and have produced
something closer to an ego psychology (Alexander, Hartmann, etc.). The
careful reader will miss some names, such as Sadger, Spielrein and even
Stekel.
Given the aforementioned
limitations, it is a very useful book for a quick search or a first step
in a larger study, as it contains several references at the end of each
chapter.
