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It is with some trepidation that I began to read this book. I've avoided edited volumes, usually finding the several contributions inconsistent in the writing, and often redundant. I try to keep up instead by reading journal reviews of such books. This one is a striking exception. Each chapter is a gem that could stand on its own, though several relate explicitly to the others. Easy to read but disquieting, the difficult truths and “sclerotic culture” (p. 7) described throughout the volume are matters of critical concern. The editors’ summary brings them together to create coherence, but psychoanalysis is in crisis, and while these superb essays attempt to intervene, resolution remains elusive: This book is aspirational, perhaps even utopian. Complex and nuanced recommendations reflect the history of conflict in our field, despite decades of compulsive repetition.
The book is divided into three sections: “Perspectives,” “Research and Training,” and “Relevance Beyond the Consulting Room.” It was published in 2018, so I must first address recent events that provide a more current context for evaluation.
About 75 million U.S. citizens voted to reelect Donald J. Trump, the largest number for a presidential candidate in U.S. history but one, Joseph R. Biden Jr., whose popular vote total was several million more. Mr. Trump left office contesting the result as fraudulent, even inciting an insurrection that attempted to overturn it. His unreality remains supported by many of his voters. Confidence in the electoral system itself is threatened by “alternate facts” and “fake news,” claims that gainsay any evidence-based truth-seeking. This attack on epistemology itself may be a perverse sequel to the postmodern replacement of logical positivism, with frightening implications for respectful collaboration, the very foundation for progress promoted by the writers and editors of this book. Can we (the people) get along?
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