The evocative power of the title of Janet Sayers's book Mothers of Psychoanalysis is truly felicitous. It conveys, in all its succinctness, what I view as the two main messages of the book. First, that psychoanalysis was cocreated, with Freud as father, by four women: Helene Deutsch, Karen Horney, Anna Freud, and Melanie Klein. The second message seems to be that these women, who each in her own way, attended to mothering in their personal and professional lives, highlighted the importance of motherhood not only for the development of children but also for the self-concept of the woman/mother. They brought this perspective to psychoanalytic theory and practice.

Sayers believes that the current turn toward a more gynocentric psychoanalysis owes more to these women pioneers than is generally acknowledged. Although only Karen Horney has had feminist acclaim, the author thinks that all four of these women—including