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The author states that "a good deal of recent psychoanalytic work, even if not always presented in this light, in fact constitutes a radical overhaul of traditional psychoanalytic theory… This work … is intended as a systematic overview of [these] recent ideas with the aim of providing a coherent account of the current status of psychoanalytic theory" (p. 4). In carrying out this intention, Eagle is indeed coherent, and he does give us something of an overview. Unfortunately, he does not do so in as systematic a manner as he leads us to expect. Eagle, an academic psychologist, is Chairman of the Department of Psychology at York University in Ontario. The book shows a strong bias in an academic direction. The book jacket states that Eagle maintains a part-time private practice in psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy; it does not mention the practice of psychoanalysis. This might help to explain the academic rather than clinical emphasis. I shall elaborate further, but first let me briefly describe the book's contents.
Eagle devotes Part One of the book to a critical evaluation of recent developments in psychoanalytic theory. He begins with a comparison of object relations and "Freudian Instinct Theory,"