I came to this book by chance, a while ago: after bying it, I put it on the shelf, & forgot about it for a couple of years, without reading it. Then, this year, I had to take a course at university about the history of psychoanalysis: & so I dug out Joseph Schwartz's book, & read it in one weekend. I was suprised how freshly & clearly written the book is. Even difficult, complicated concepts are explained in a good way, that makes you want to continue exploring the field of psychoanalysis, after finishing this book.

"Cassandra's daughter" reads like a story with a beginning, middle & end, & not at all like a dry, boring history. From the beginnings of psychoanalysis with Sigmund Freud, to today's struggles & questions, Schwartz makes a good case of why psychoanalysis is important & interesting. He talks about what its contributions have been so far, & what kind of contributions it can make from now on. Sure, certain "schools" of psychoanalysis are given less space than others in the book. And it's also true that Schwartz has strong opinions & expresses them clearly, showing his own preferances, & using arguments to support his views: but I don't find this negative--on the contrary, it's refreshing to read a history written from a particular point of view. After all, histories are always written from a particular point of view, even when there's a big struggle towards a so-called "objectivity": Schwartz has no such illusions, & writes making his own voice very clear. It's much more 'fresh' & original this way, since it's one thing to simply & dryly describe the facts--& another thing to try to explain the facts, giving meaning to the story & the events. ( )

To demonstrate the important contribution psychoanalysis can make to the future investigation of "human relational needs," Schwartz, a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and author (Einstein for Beginners), offers a history of psychoanalysis and especially of the development of object-relations theory. Although the book does not add any fresh details to the often-told story of the development of psychoanalytic theory, it does present a distinctly British perspective on the main personal, political and social events that have shaped psychoanalysis from Freud to the present, including a discussion of the writings and personalities of figures like Melanie Klein, Ronald Fairbairn and others. Writing for a general audience, Schwartz avoids an extended discussion of the theoretical differences between the various schools and instead emphasizes the value of the general psychoanalytic endeavor to understanding the interior life of the individual. He also defends the theoretical and methodological integrity of psychoanalysis against those who attack its lack of scientific rigor with a thoughtful and well-argued account of why the discipline, as an investigation of the human subject, requires a method of inquiry that can never adhere to the scientific method employed in the study of objects. Unlike many shrill attacks and defenses of psychoanalysis, this book focuses neither on character assassination nor hagiography, but rather on what is interesting and still worthwhile in the attempt to gain understanding through talking and listening.

These two authors agree that psychoanalysis is a science, that some of Freud's theories are wrong, that relationships are as important as drives, and that, in the end, psychoanalysis is worth pursuing as a therapy, a theory of mind, and a boon to humanity. Schwartz, a London psychotherapist with a Ph.D. in physics, tells a rousing tale of Freud's life and legacy with a social point of view, adding "justice" to the staples of love and work that signal mental health.

Psychoanalysis is arguably the most important intellectual development of the twentieth century; words like repressed, neurotic, ego, and paranoid are now part of our everyday vernacular. In Cassandra's Daughter, Joseph Schwartz presents the history of psychoanalysis from its origins in the nineteenth-century to the present day. Schwartz explains the pre-Freudian approaches to mental illness, Freud's own theories, and the controversies provoked by Freudian thought in the analytic community. He then focuses on Freud's colleagues, rivals, successors, and detractors including Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, Harry Stack Sullivan, Melanie Klein, and Erich Fromm. Schwartz contextualizes rival schools and interpretations as well as probing the relationship between psychoanalysis, physics, and biology, while debunking the criticism that psychoanalysis is not a legitimate science.