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The full reasons for Freud's dislike of America will in all probability never be known. Yet it is easier to guess how the prejudice began, than why he maintained it for most of his life. The trip to this country was the longest he ever undertook; New York was the scene in which Freud's 'American colitis' began. These and other reasons are cited in Ernest Jone's biography. The book under review perhaps provides another clue to why Freud maintained his prejudice.
Responding to a letter from Roback, Freud wrote, '… I feel impelled to put a stop to a situation that is very unusual for me. For over thirty years I have let people say and write whatever they wish about myself and my teachings. Only in very exceptional cases do I make a rebuttal (e.g., in History of the Psychoanalytic Movement). I know very well that my protests would not do any good, since people feel a need for expressing themselves in just the way they do. And now I find myself involved in an exchange of criticism and countercriticism with you, although I cannot dispute your right to express yourself about me as freely and incorrectly as you please. I know this exception is due to the fact that you strike a chord of Jewishness which reverberates so sensitively in me. My sympathies were aroused, and then I was sorry that I seemed to find a discrepancy between the high position you wish to accord me and your knowledge about me and your understanding of my work. No harm meant; I won't do this sort of thing again.' As if Freud were saying, If I have many more friends like you in America, I won't need enemies.
Later in the same letter, Freud says, 'Since you cite your youth as an excuse for this erroneous statement, you give me an opportunity of admitting a misconception of my own regarding yourself. Because of the great assurance of all your statements, I had assumed you were a dignified old gentleman. For your sake I am glad that I was wrong. I had overlooked the necessary result of the combina