The Psychoanalytic Study of Society, Vol. III: Edited by Warner Muensterberger, Ph.D. and Sidney Axelrad, D.S.Sc. New York: International Universities Press, Inc., 1965. 408 pp.

Articles in applied psychoanalysis may add breadth and interest to the analyst's work. For example, they may educate him in the uses of religion and artistic expression and help him better understand the behavior and conflicts that arise out of the diversity of childrearing practices, adaptive patterns, cultural goals, and opportunities. They may also stimulate fruitful collaboration between psychoanalysis and the other social sciences, providing psychoanalytic concepts illuminate rather than distort the subject as a whole. Using such criteria, the articles in this annual succeed in varying degrees, but generally do so better than comparable articles written a dozen years ago.

The first papers are from a panel discussion entitled Mythology and Ego Psychology. Jacob Arlow discusses one interpretation of the myth of the Annunciation to the Madonna, derived from art and case material. The unconscious fantasy of stealing the paternal phallus is transformed into a fantasy of conception in which the sun's rays enter the Virgin's eyes. Through this transformation, the myth may influence character formation in all exposed to it. Sadistic aggressive guilt-laden Oedipal impulses are