Psychoanalysis at the Margins. By Paul E. Stepansky. New York:  Other Press, 2009,  357 pp.

Paul Stepansky, a firsthand witness to the near demise of psychoanalytic book publishing and the fractionation of psychoanalysis into competing enclaves with little interchange or dialogue, has written a serious scholarly warning about the present state of our profession. It is hoped that his warning will be heeded, and some remedial action will be taken to remedy a declining view of the psychoanalytic enterprise. Considering the present state of disrepair, paradigm warfare, and rivalries in the field—frequently of a personal nature—the task to repair the problem is daunting.

The author provides accurate testimony to psychoanalytic events of the last four decades. As the managing director of The Analytic Press publishing house for many years, and before that an editor at International Universities Press, he tells a sobering and truthful story of the present declining state of book and journal publishing in the United States. I can confirm the truthfulness of Stepansky's claims, as my own career in psychoanalytic journal and book review editing and publishing covers the same years as his.

We are reminded that, during the past thirty years, regular trade publishers and major university presses—such as Harvard, Yale, and Chicago—have withdrawn from publishing psychoanalytic books. The task of publishing has been left to a handful of small, specialized publishers, such as The Analytic Press, with limited print runs and high prices, who