War Stress and Neurotic Illness: By Abram Kardiner, M.D. with the collaboration of Herbert Spiegel, M.D. Second Edition of The Traumatic Neuroses of War. New York: Paul B. Hoeber, Inc., 1947. 428 pp.

The vexing problem of the traumatic neuroses, unquestionably of prime theoretic significance for all psychopathology, has long claimed the attention of the senior author of this book, so that his views are familiar enough to the informed. Whatever the heat which has been generated by his critique of the libido theory, which he by no means simply discards, and by his concept of urges and action-systems, it cannot be denied that Kardiner's contribution is distinguished by a clinical clarity and a depth of conceptual awareness which makes it outstanding in its field. An added chapter, on battlefield psychiatry, by Dr. Spiegel, is executed with poise and precision.

We must be grateful to Dr. Kardiner for having been so bold as to make a sharp dichotomy between the traumatic neuroses proper, and the numerous elaborations which have confused so many observers. Should such a distinction prove somewhat oversimplified after a time, it nevertheless seems an absolutely essential step at present to introduce order into a subject in which the worst kind of nosological chaos has prevailed. In any event, the concept of a specific traumatic neurosis, as distinguished from other neuroses, has already stood the test of time. There is a kind of monotony in the symptomatology and a poverty in the content of the traumatic neurosis which gives the impression of a high degree of specificity.

Kardiner's opinion that many who write about the traumatic neuroses of war burst into print too soon, is entirely justified. To him, much of the nosological confusion has been the result of not waiting long enough for the stark syndrome to emerge from the welter of defenses at first thrown up to ward off the massive blow to the personality. The thesis recommends itself for its simplicity, and a careful reading of the closely reasoned process by which the author has managed to separate the wheat of the traumatic