Freud (Hardback)
The Making of An Illusion
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A searing examination of Freud's life and legacy, from a major academic
From the master of Freud debunkers, the book that definitively puts an end to the myth of psychoanalysis and its creator.
Sigmund Freud is one of the most influential figures of western society. His ideas transformed the way that we think about our minds, our selves and even our thoughts. But while he was undeniably a visionary thinker, Freud's legend was also the work of years of careful mythologizing, and a fierce refusal to accept criticism or scrutiny of his often unprincipled methods.
In Freud: The Making of an Illusion, Frederick Crews dismantles Freud's totemic reputation brick by brick. Looking at recently revealed correspondence, he examines Freud's own personality, his selfishness, competitiveness and willingness to cut corners and exploit weaknesses to get his own way. He explores Freud's whole-hearted embracing of cocaine as a therapeutic tool, and the role it played in his own career. And he interrogates Freud's intellectual legacy, exposing how many of his ideas and conclusions were purely speculative, or taken wholesale from others.
As acidic as it is authoritative, this critique of the man behind the legend is compulsory reading for anyone interested in Freudianism.
Freud (Ebook)
The Making of An Illusion
Buy from
A searing examination of Freud's life and legacy, from a major academic
From the master of Freud debunkers, the book that definitively puts an end to the myth of psychoanalysis and its creator.
Sigmund Freud is one of the most influential figures of western society. His ideas transformed the way that we think about our minds, our selves and even our thoughts. But while he was undeniably a visionary thinker, Freud's legend was also the work of years of careful mythologizing, and a fierce refusal to accept criticism or scrutiny of his often unprincipled methods.
In Freud: The Making of an Illusion, Frederick Crews dismantles Freud's totemic reputation brick by brick. Looking at recently revealed correspondence, he examines Freud's own personality, his selfishness, competitiveness and willingness to cut corners and exploit weaknesses to get his own way. He explores Freud's whole-hearted embracing of cocaine as a therapeutic tool, and the role it played in his own career. And he interrogates Freud's intellectual legacy, exposing how many of his ideas and conclusions were purely speculative, or taken wholesale from others.
As acidic as it is authoritative, this critique of the man behind the legend is compulsory reading for anyone interested in Freudianism.
Reviews for Freud
Bryan Appleyard Sunday Times
Jenny McCartney Mail on Sunday
Antonio Melechi TLS
Daily Mail
Kirkus Reviews
Frank J. Sulloway, author of Freud, Biologist of the Mind: Beyond the Psychoanalytic Legend
Stewart Justman, author of The Psychological Mystique
Elizabeth Loftus, co-author of The Myth of Repressed Memory
Richard J. McNally, author of What Is Mental Illness?
John Farrell, author of Freud's Paranoid Quest
Malcolm Macmillan, author of Freud Evaluated: The Completed Arc
Paul McHugh, author Try to Remember: Psychiatry’s Clash over Meaning, Memory, and Mind
Frederick Crews
Frederick Crews is Professor Emeritus of English at University of California, Berkeley. Nearly 40 years ago he wrote The Pooh Perplex, a trailer for this book. He is also the author of The Memory Wars, a withering attack on 'recovered memory syndrome' and numerous other works. He is one of the most distinguished critics in the United States.