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There are few greater challenges or difficulties in an analyst's day than a series of therapy hours with “borderline” patients. Today a rival has made the scene—the task of setting in print a coherent and meaningful review of a book on “the borderline” that includes two volumes, 750 pages, 36 chapters, 34 contributors, and almost countless and often contradictory variations in theoretical viewpoints, clinical understanding and approaches, and definitions of terms and concepts. And yet, in spite of this overload, it is important to convey, if nothing else, the unsurpassed excellence of these volumes and the value of them to every dynamic therapist's library. In an era of proliferation of journals and books on dynamic theory and therapy it is common to find writings of great value to those of us who daily attempt to understand and be of therapeutic assistance to our fellow humans who suffer in every way and to every degree possible in the intra- and interpersonal experiences of living. Rarely, however, would one consider a contemporary book as absolutely essential to the theorist and therapist who is struggling to deepen and expand his knowledge and perspective. These volumes qualify for that rare accolade. In a collection of this quality the only deficiency possible must lie in the experience of those who will not have or take the opportunity to read it.
No stone is left unturned in giving the reader an in-depth exposure to every possible viewpoint in terms of diagnosis, explanatory formulation, and treatment approach. The editors have not only done a masterful job of selecting, arranging, and editing the material but have provided, with their “roadmaps” in the form of 40 key questions regarding the borderline patient, both a highly motivating stimulus to reading the articles and an organizing focus. As though all this were not enough, they have made the volumes even more “reader friendly” by offering an appetizing introduction to each of the books' five major parts (