In any book that contains 32 papers by a wide range of authors as well as such a pretentious title, a degree of unevenness is expected. This compendium is more than uneven, it is a disappointment in its naive generalizations, its rejections of psychoanalysis, and its ignorance of “changing perspectives” in psychoanalytic theory and research. Psychoanalysis is not the main focus of the book; rather, it features articles by social psychiatrists and social scientists which deal primarily with psychiatrists and social scientists which deal primarily with cross-cultural influences on mental illness. Many of these articles are quite good as far as they go. For example, a paper by Raoul Naroll on the concept of the sick society indicates that the suicide rate is the best barometer