This book is an autobiographical account of George Mandler--born in
1924--who grew up in a middle class Jewish family in Vienna. It
details the fears and attempts to find a safe haven when Austria
was invaded and absorbed into Nazi Germany in 1938, followed by
Mandler's escape to England and residence in a small boarding
school. The threat of the holocaust and reaction to anti-semitism
are explored and the author describes the life of an emigre youth
group run by a branch of the Austrian communist party. Drafted in
1943, Mandler is trained in military intelligence and ends up as a
front line interrogator with the 7th army in Germany. The training
and function of military intelligence and the role of German and
Austrian refugees in it are described for the first time in detail.
Military intelligence and counter-intelligence work in post-war
Germany follows, including the evacuation of a scientific
establishment before the arrival of the Soviets. Returning to New
York in 1946, Mandler begins his college training at New York
University and the University of Basel, Switzerland. This is
followed by graduate training in psychology at Yale and a first
position at Harvard for seven years. Highlights of the period
include a short episode of peripheral involvement in a Soviet spy
scandal. After five years at the University of Toronto, Mandler is
given the opportunity of a lifetime--to start a department at the
prestigious new San Diego branch of the University of California.
He describes the process of building a department and a university
in the context of the 1960s, as well as academic life and actions
during the turbulent 60s and 70s. Mandler's successful career as a
writer and researcher in psychology is described in lay language,
as is the professional/scientific bifurcation of the field. The
final chapter comments on and describes current academic life and
problems.
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