One does not need to be a Mahler devotee or a psychoanalyst to appreciate Stuart Feder's Gustav Mahler: A Life in Crisis, which gives us fresh reason to consider Mahler in the light of his music, his times, and his psychology. Feder, who is an analyst and a musician, uses his expertise in both fields to weave a fascinating study of the interplay between Mahler's personal life and the music he composed. The story he tells is complicated and engrossing, made more compelling by Feder's painstaking research of the historical and musical material and by his clear, modest, and engaging style. He does not go to speculative excess when interpreting musical passages or personal events, even when the material might tempt a less conscientious scholar to rhapsodize with abandon or presume “certain” knowledge of the “true” depths of the personalities of Mahler and his contemporaries. These are no mean achievements for a biographer; Mahler was an astonishing and prolifically creative individual.