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This, in every way, is a large, impressive work that will be seen by psychoanalysts everywhere as a fundamental intellectual contribution. It is, at the same time, a collection of seminal papers on a broad range of topics and a record of the intellectual development of a major contemporary figure in the field of psychoanalysis, Leo Rangell. This book, in two volumes, has exceptional reach and scope, both as to subject matter and as to the period it covers. It represents the intense, indeed passionate, investment in psychoanalysis of one who has been at the centre of psychoanalytic activity and discourse for more than forty years. Well known and recognized the world over (he was twice President of the American Psychoanalytic Association and twice President of the International Psychoanalytical Association), Rangell is deeply informed not only about psychoanalysis as a discipline, but also about psychoanalysts as individuals, in groups, and as an aggregate. A razor-sharp mind capable of cutting through all forms of confusion and illogic, extensive clinical experience, profound commitment to psychoanalysis and a special flair for psychoanalytic theory and metapsychology, are the major planks of the platform from which Rangell speaks. The perspective that he offers us from this platform is indeed exceptional. For these reasons, this is also a challenging work to review; it deals with clinical matters, with fundamental questions of theory, with complex organizational and political issues and, finally, with their evolution over time. It concerns the future of psychoanalysis. All this is there.
Titled The Human Core. The Intrapsychic Base of Human Behavior, this work stakes out at once its ambitious goal, namely its focus on intrapsychic events as they reach out to, and are influenced by, the multiplicity of human experience. Throughout, Rangell is cognizant of this macrocosm and strives to keep it in balance. He gives major emphasis to the ego's exercise of unc