This little book is the third psychoanalytic epitome. Supplied with a preface by Dr. John Rickman, it is an excellent survey of the most important contributions psychoanalysis has made to anthropology. The wealth of material is impressive, but still more so is the skill with which it is condensed into brief yet clear and comprehensive form, valuable for the psychoanalyst and layman alike.

In his introductory chapter, the author points to the inadequacies of the theories and methods which, having been confined to a psychology of the conscious only, were unable to explain irrational phenomena. For instance, mythology with its incestuous, parricidal and castrative elements, remained an obscure and impenetrable domain until psychoanalytical studies of dreams furnished some enlightenment.