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In this sophisticated and well written book, Warren Gadpaille, with the editorial assistance of Lucy Freeman, has undertaken the important and ambitious task of describing the entire panorama of human sexual development from infancy to old age. He states at the very outset that he is fully aware of the difficulty of separating sexual development from other aspects of human emotional life; but insofar as it is possible he attempts to do so, and succeeds admirably. His concern is essentially with normal patterns of development; the abnormal is touched on only in passing. He is frank to admit that for the most part, his data, are drawn from and applicable to middle- and upper-middle class American society, although he is of the opinion that some aspects of sexual development are probably shared by all mankind.
The book is packed with information and clearly reflects a monumental amount of work and study. It is organized around three major “cycles” of sexual development: the first, beginning with life in the womb, extends through the early school years; the second, from prepubertal years to the end of adolescence; and the third, from young adulthood to the final years of life.
Probably not all readers will agree with me, but I found the first section of the book less successful than the later parts. Gadpaille is knowledgeable and discriminating about the interplay between biology and culture, yet he leans too heavily, in my opinion, on traditional Freudian theory in tracing the development of infantile and early childhood sexuality. Indeed, in some sections he almost seems to subscribe to aspects of Kleinian theory. For example, he writes: “Oral frustration may intensify the infant's aggressive wish to devour. He may turn upon the withholding mother in hate and rage with the only weapon he has, his mouth, and in his infant's imagination wish to hurt her, swallow her, bite her, devour her, destroy her. That an infant's fantasies go to such primitive lengths can be illustra