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This is an Indispensable book for those who want to understand the institutional life of contemporary psychoanalysis in this country. No one is better placed than Wallerstein to tell so much of the story of the antitrust lawsuit brought against the American Psychoanalytic and the International and what that reveals about their administrative structures, their relationship to each other, their cultures, and their guiding principles.
As a key member of the American's Committee on Training for Research, as well as a foremost researcher himself, Wallerstein not only knew firsthand the “lay” analysts admitted into research roles and the quandries and controversies surrounding them, but he participated in the frustrating internal efforts of the American to rectify this blatantly inequitable situation. Later, as president of the International, he was literally a party to the lawsuit and the negotiations leading to its settlement. He knew so many of the participants, he directly argued its central issues, and he is able to quote from a treasure trove of original documents.
Moreover, Wallerstein generously weaves into his account the story of his own professional development, making it possible for the reader to understand better the cultural and professional climate in which these controversies were played out. Tellingly, for example, he describes how he was turned down in his application to the New York Psychoanalytic because, as his well-placed supporters were able to determine, “the chastening effect of being rejected on a first application and having to reapply could be helpful to my emotional maturation” (p. 90).
Finally, Wallerstein brings to his task a broad intellectual framework for placing the issues. Quite rightly, as he sees it, the underlying issues