The Freudians: A Comparative Perspective by Edith Kurzweil. Published by  Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, USA and London, 1998. Originally published in 1989 by Yale University Press, now republished with a new introduction;  374 pages; $24.95

This book is an original. Though about psychoanalysts, it is by a sociologist. It is an erudite examination of whether psychoanalytic theory and technique tend to differ in different cultures. The author concentrates only on full-blown IPA psychoanalysts. She convincingly concludes that, though psychoanalysts worldwide carefully study and follow one model - that of Freud, their styles of theory and practice do differ. This is not new, for instance, analysts in Britain informally gossip about ‘the Viennese’, ‘the Americans’ or ‘the French’. However, Kurzweil's is probably the first scholarly investigation of culture's influence on theory and technique. Though confined to Austria, the USA, Germany, France and the UK, it succeeds in directing attention to the world context surrounding psychoanalysis. The book should thus have a place on the library shelves of every psychoanalytically orientated institution and university.

Each chapter deals with how a culture treats a particular topic, e.g. the reception of Freud's theories; from therapy to theory; promises to culture; psychosomatic