Psychoanalysis and Women: Contemporary Reappraisals: Edited by Judith Alpert. Hillsdale, New Jersey and London: The Analytic Press. 1986. Pp. 336.

In the last decade there have been new ideas about psychoanalysis and women arising from feminist critiques of psychoanalysis and new knowledge from related fields. These new ideas have only gradually entered the psychoanalytic literature. Several collections of essays have appeared and, although a new cohesive developmental theory has not yet emerged, the discussion of women's development and psychology has been broadened and enriched.

This book consists of a number of chapters about the psychology of women from a psychoanalytic point of view. The authors are, for the most part, psychologists affiliated with the New York University PostDoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis and with Adelphi University in New York. All of the contributors are women. They have devoted time and thought to elaborating ideas that represent a synthesis of current controversies, and are departures from classical views. Several chapters present historical analyses and interesting and provocative formulations.

Although the new scholarship has not yet resulted in an integrated theory, the ferment of activity in this field has produced some shifts in perspective and rich clinical descriptions. The feminist critiques have served to increase inquiry and raise questions about previously accepted ideas. The initial attacks on psychoanalysis from feminist writers have changed from a simplistic dismissal to a re-examination of 'classical' views and some revisions.