The principal thrust of this slim volume is to combat forces mat impose authoritarian restraints on psychoanalysis. Goldberg perceives two major classes of such inhibiting factors: the weight of theoretical orthodoxy and the political influence of a self-perpetuating administrative elite. He believes that these forces have impeded the progress needed to permit psychoanalysis to fulfill its promise and that this blockage has been made possible by the prevalent conservatism of most psychoanalysts. Goldberg suspects that, in view of the uncertain societal prospects of their discipline, analysts are less open than ever to new ideas. This is a serious indictment about matters of vital importance; all those interested in the welfare of psychoanalysis must share Goldberg's concerns.

It is therefore regrettable that Goldberg has chosen to address these issues in a manner that he himself, in his introduction, calls “breezy.” If anything, this characterization of the book is an understatement: Readers in sympathy with Goldberg's theses may find that their cause has been