The initiative for the preparation of this book came from a meeting of the Historical Section of the World Psychiatric Association in 1981. The task of describing the historical development of the concepts of schizophrenia in only 200 pages is formidable but has been accomplished by the group of capable authors selected by the editor.

A historical review is a scholarly exercise that not only helps to organize a sector of human knowledge but also benefits our understanding of problems of phenomenology, nosology, etiology, and treatment. For example, the description of a mental illness that erupted in Europe in the late middle ages sounds like an epidemic,