On Infancy and Toddlerhood: An Elementary Textbook by David A. Freedman Madison, CT:  International Universities Press, 1997,  xiii + 247 pp., $29.95 Siblings in the Unconscious and Psychopathology: Womb Fantasies, Claustrophobias, Fear of Pregnancy, Murderous Rage, Animal Symbolism, Christmas and Easter “Neuroses,” and Twinnings or Identifications with Sisters and Brothers by Vamik D. Volkan and Gabriele Ast Madison, CT:  International Universities Press, 1997,  xiv + 184 pp., $27.50

Each of these books is worthy of study in its own right, and reading them together provides an interesting look at the current state of the developmental point of view in psychoanalysis. Their specific subject matter is different, with Freedman concentrating broadly on very early development, and Volkan and Ast concentrating on unconscious fantasies about siblings. The most important difference between the two books, to which I shall return, is methodological: the Freedman book is largely based on observational studies of infants and children conducted outside the analyst's office, as well as animal research, whereas Volkan and Ast is more traditionally based on reconstructions from psychoanalyses of adults.

In addition to being a psychoanalyst, Freedman is knowledgeable about Piaget, attachment research, and neuroscience, and he has written a delightful book synthesizing these fields of knowledge. The book is widely informative, fascinating, and fun to read. Freedman uses illustrations very effectively. For example, his frontispiece is a photograph captioned “Despairing infant Macaque monkey who has been separated from its mother.” The monkey in the photo stares blankly from a fetal position, in a way that heartrendingly reaches across the species gap, thus immediately