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It is stated in the introduction to this edition of Shame and Guilt by Piers and Singer that the current book is essentially a reprint of a 1953 first edition. It is divided into two parts, the first of which contains a psychoanalytic study by Gerhart Piers and the second is the cultural study by Milton Singer. Unfortunately, it does not include any new thinking in the field nor does it give, with one exception, any bibliography beyond 1953. The authors do promise another book to cover these deficiencies.
To evaluate this book is not to emphasize these shortcomings, as it was not the purpose of the authors to write on the intervening developments. Rather, it is to see whether it would throw light on the matters of shame and guilt for the growing numbers of analysts and social scientists. This new edition is evidence that there is a public demand for understanding in this field.
The authors follow Freud closely in their formulations. For example, the sense of guilt is defined as the tension between the ego and superego, the internal authority on moral restrictions. This is exactly what Freud wrote. Furthermore, Freud did make the statement that it was exceedingly difficult to distinguish between a sense of shame (also called a sense of inferiority) and a sense of guilt. The book under review enumerates the confusions shown by many followers of Freud. Fenichel is said to