Like many books this one begins rather promisingly and then peters out badly. It represents both the good and bad features of what medical psychology can contribute to political science. The author, who has read his Freud, is armed with a considerable psychological knowledge that enables him to offer brilliant interpretations which must appear novel and penetrating to the laity. He begins with a plausibly written account of the Oedipus complex, particularly of the ambivalent attitude towards the father, and of the profound bearing this has on adult attitudes towards various forms of government. This is followed by a convincing chapter on projection, although he omits here any account of the introjection that mostly precedes it. Then comes a lurid chapter entitled 'The Frightened Male',