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The main thesis which Dr. Moloney puts forward with his characteristic vigour is that tension in mothers is communicated to their young children by means of gesture, expression, muscle-tone, and anxiety expressed in a whole multitude of physical contacts. That these methods of communicating tension states apply to neurotic mothers and their children is well known, but the author states emphatically that non-neurotic mothers who are themselves realistically anxious owing to external stress situations, communicate tension and anxiety to their young children in whom the communicated tension state becomes fixed and chronic so that henceforth there is a more flimsy adjustment and a higher breakdown rate. The author cites, as his main example, the Okinawans, who in their island homeland enjoy a highly satisfactory early childhood with pleasant nurture experiences, and who later have not only tolerant social structures in which the individual is allowed to bloom, but also a very low mental breakdown rate. The migrant Okinawans of Hawaii, however, who live cheek by jowl with the Japanese who despise them, despite apparently good early nurture conditions have a much higher than normal breakdown rate for Hawaii, which itself has a higher breakdown rate than Okinawa. Repatriation of Okinawans to their homeland has been fraught with so many complications, and has taken place so recently, that any restoration of favourable prognosis in mental and emotional health has not yet been validated. However, Dr. Moloney cites as an example of the resurgence of a healthy society the second generation Israelis, whose sturdy manliness, energy, and independence he ascribes to the joyful attitude of immigrant parents who had found a home, a soil, a feeling of belonging, and a sense of freedom. One feels about this part of the book that the enthusiasm of the author for proving his main thesis has led him into viewing the Israeli youth somewhat through rose-tinted spectacles. Qualitative