This book contains selected papers written by Jacob Arlow over a period of almost 40 years. Arlow's contribution to American psychoanalysis, as represented in this body of work, constitutes an impressive achievement. Indeed, in some psychoanalytic circles, Arlow's ideas about psychoanalytic theory and clinical practice have become the standards for defining modern psychoanalysis.

As someone trained as an “Arlowian” (although I have never personally met Jacob Arlow), I found that reviewing this book required me to reexamine the contemporary importance, both theoretical and clinical, of these papers. This collection may be viewed as an intellectual autobiography, in which the reader can watch the gradual development and elaboration of Arlow's major ideas. The volume would have perhaps benefited from some additions: a preface written from Arlow's current perspective and explaining this particular selection of his works; introductory comments by Arlow to individual papers; and a foreword, critical