Sigmund Freud: More Human Than Otherwise: A review of A Dream of Undying Fame: How Freud Betrayed His Mentor and Invented Psychoanalysis by Louis Breger, 2009,  Basic Books,  146 pp.

In the history of psychoanalysis there has been no shortage of examples of the nasty business that can go on between people, illustrating Harry Stack Sullivan's (1953) maxim that “everyone is much more simply human than otherwise” (p. 32). Louis Breger's fine book helps further the ongoing project of humanizing Sigmund Freud's genius, while offering a richly rendered portrayal of some of the “more simply human” central characters and events that gave rise to the invention of our “impossible profession” (Freud, 1937, p. 247).

In this engaging narrative, written in a lively and accessible style, Breger takes the reader on a journey through the founding of psychoanalysis. Although one must be mindful of the well-established limitations of what might be considered an armchair psychoanalysis (Kuriloff, , personal communication), Breger nonetheless makes a compelling case that Freud, driven by a near-insatiable need for fame and recognition, radically downplayed the role of his mentor and sometime benefactor Josef Breuer. Breger paints a picture of Freud initially acknowledging,