Sychoanalysts are becoming more pluralistic, working with multiple theories and using comparative studies to synthesize them. These studies do double duty. They highlight strengths and weaknesses in the theorists they discuss, and they demonstrate how close reading and critical thinking can lead to new ideas. Lewis Kirshner's Having a Life is an example of such a study. He integrates the contributions of Lacan with the more familiar work of Kohut and Winnicott. Where earlier writers might have held up each perspective as a separate point of view, Kirshner interweaves them, seeking commonalities and shared understandings. This is not as easy as it might seem; the writer must do justice to each of the thinkers, while also navigating the cross-currents that flow among them. Although Kirshner doesn't always succeed at what he sets out to accomplish,