If a “charming textbook” seems like an oxymoron, then welcome to Nancy McWilliams's Psychoanalytic Diagnosis. Her book is just such a wonder. The charm of this book comes from a sense that one is joining a seminar with a relaxed, knowledgeable, and experienced teacher—modest yet confident—who, speaking eloquently, still manages to laugh. In accomplishing this, it gives the impression of being inspired by lecture notes evolved over years of teaching the subject. Her style is direct and clear. There is not a muddy sentence in the volume. Yet there is an informal tone that invites the reader.

The serious purpose of the book fulfills the promise of its subtitle, Understanding Personality Structure in the Clinical Process. It is tightly organized and its bounty of information is tied to meaningful organizing concepts. The material, scholarly and well grounded in the development of psychoanalytic thought, is brightened