Milrod presents an excellent, clear, and interesting review of the notion of the ego ideal. He discusses its relation to the superego and refutes some other writers' views of its nature. He explains its detachment from the personified "idols" and its gradual removal from such personified early love objects. He notes four stages in formation of the ego ideal and its relation to the wished-for self-image. The superego may be described as measuring the praise or blame to assign to the ego. Milrod discusses the ego ideal as it relates to group formation: the group enables its members to ignore their ego ideals. He has some tantalizingly brief remarks—one hopes he will later elaborate—on the ego ideal in the psychopath and on the origin of the double, contradictory, ego ideal found in some persons. His remarks on the meaning and origin of guilt and shame are also brief but stimulating. Some brief case discussions well illustrate what Milrod has to say. There is much more in this essay than can be included in a brief summary.