This is a splendid book. The reader should not be put off by Zvi Lothane's title. The book is far more than a “Defense of Schreber.” It is virtually an encyclopedic treatment of Schreber and his illness and all the principals involved in his life. It brings the reader into the center of German culture of the second half of the 19th century. It includes an extensive history of ideas, especially ideas about mental illness, philosophic, religious, ethical, political, and medical. “I approach Schreber at eye level, so to speak, as if I had entered into a dialogue with a friend…. I was putting mental questions to my protagonist, trying to put myself in his shoes, thinking his thoughts, and imagining what it must have felt like to be in his situation” (p. 5).

The reader will find here a detailed biography of Paul Schreber himself, of his father, Moritz; of Dr. Paul Flechsig, known to psychoanalysts