This book comprises a collection of the distinguished psychoanalyst Elisabeth Young-Bruehl s papers ranging from Psychoanalysis and Social Democracy, Civilization and its Dream of Contentement, Reflections on Women and Psychoanalysis and Reflections on Psychobiography . Each essay is of value in its own right, and the collection together will be found to make an important contribution to our understanding of the history of psychoanalysis."

As a founding father of Existentialism, Karl Jaspers has been seen as a twentieth-century successor to Nietzsche and Kierkegaard; as an exponent of reason, he has been seen as an heir of Kant. But studies tracing influences upon his thought or placing him in the context of Existentialism have not dealt with Jasper's concern with the political realm and how we think in it and about it. In this study Elisabeth Young-Bruehl explicates Jasper's practical philosophizing, his search for ways in which we can orient ourselves toward our world and its political questions. Political freedom and freedom for philosophizing, for critical thinking, were of a piece for Jaspers, and Young-Bruehl makes the dynamic unity of these two freedoms the subject of her book. What was important for Jaspers was not a systematic set of philosophical concepts but the activity of philosophizing, a mode of thinking that could illuminate the origins and implications of such unprecedented phenomena as nuclear weapons and totalitarian regimes. Young-Bruehl shows how Jaspers aimed at responsibility to the diversity of the world and attempted to formulate criteria for judgment conducive to responsible thought and action.

This highly acclaimed, prize-winning biography of one of the foremost political philosophers of the twentieth century is here reissued in a trade paperback edition for a new generation of readers. In a new preface the author offers an account of writings by and about Arendt that have appeared since the book's 1982 publication, providing a reassessment of her subject's life and achievement.
"Praise for the earlier edition:
""Both a personal and an intellectual biography . . . It represents biography at its best."--Peter Berger, front page, "The New York Times Book Review
""A story of surprising drama . . . . At last, we can see Arendt whole."--Jim Miller, "Newsweek
""Indispensable to anyone interested in the life, the thought, or . . . the example of Hannah Arendt."--Mark Feeney, "Boston Globe
""An adventure story that moves from pre-Nazi Germany to fame in the United States, and . . . a study of the influences that shaped a sharp political awareness."--Richmond (Va.) "Times-Dispatch"

"Cher-ish-ment, " n. F. "cher, " dear. Sweet, indulgent love, esp. of children. Emotional equivalent of nourishment; soul food. What the world needs now.

Elisabeth Young-Bruehl and Faith Bethelard give a name to the kind, warm, tender, and affectionate love that babies expect before they can speak of it and that we all desire our whole lives long. As adults, they note, we all desire our whole lives long. As adults, they note, we don't often acknowledge or even understand our need for this "cherishment." Their book is a rare effort to explore that need, to create a "psychology of the heart."

In "Cherishment, " Young-Bruehl and Bethelard provide a wholly original way of thinking about familiar concepts such as love, attachment, and care, showing how deep-seated disappointments and fears of dependency keep so many of us from forming healthy relationships. Questioning the traditional, celebratory view of independence and self-reliance, they argue that cherishment is the emotional foundation, formed in childhood, that sustains all kinds of growth-promoting adult bonds.

Blending the philosophical writing that has won Young-Bruehl international acclaim with Bethelard's imaginative sensibility, "Cherishment" is a finely balanced interplay of scholarship, dual-memoir, and intimate therapeutic tales. It draws on ancient wisdom traditions of the East and West, telling many instructive stories of men and women, young and old, who have learned to cultivate the cherishment instinct in themselves as well as in others. It helps readers attune sensitively to the ways people express their need for affection in the details of daily life and relationships. The book narrates a journey of discovery, and any reader on his or her own journey in the realm of the heart will feel cherished by it.

Edited and with an Introduction by Elisabeth Young-Bruehl

"A definitive anthology." —Choice

Ever since Freud made his first major statements about female sexuality and psychology, his views have been the focus of intense debate—both within psychoanalysis and without. By now, the lines of battle have become so many and so criss-crossed that it is not easy to see the original causus belli clearly. This anthology will encourage current and new generations of debaters, and discourage the circulation of simplistic versions of what Freud supposedly said about women.

Chronologically arranged, this first volume to collect Freud's writing about women shows clearly how his views arose, then were refined, systematized, and revised. Certain theories stayed constant—such as the notion of universal bisexuality—while others changed. Elisabeth Young-Breuhl, in her comprehensive introduction, illuminates the theory and tracks the core elements. Each selection, based on the James Strachey translation, carries a brief commentary; and an annotated bibliography covers field developments since Freud's death. While appreciating the genius of Freud, this anthology aims not to present a point of view but to allow readers to discern for themselves the evolution of Freud's thinking.

From Arendt's preeminent biographer, an exploration of the particular relevance of the great philosopher's thought to the world of today Upon publication of her "field manual," The Origins of Totalitarianism,in 1951, Hannah Arendt immediately gained recognition as a major political analyst. Over the next twenty-five years, she wrote ten more books and developed a set of ideas that profoundly influenced the way America and Europe addressed the central questions and dilemmas of World War II. In this concise book, Elisabeth Young-Bruehl introduces her mentor's work to twenty-first-century readers. Arendt's ideas, as much today as in her own lifetime, illuminate those issues that perplex us, such as totalitarianism, terrorism, globalization, war, and "radical evil." Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, who was Arendt's doctoral student in the early 1970s and who wrote the definitive biography of her mentor in 1982, now revisits Arendt's major works and seminal ideas. Young-Bruehl considers what Arendt's analysis of the totalitarianism of Nazi Germany and the Stalinist Soviet Union can teach us about our own times, and how her revolutionary understanding of political action is connected to forgiveness and making promises for the future. The author also discusses The Life of the Mind, Arendt's unfinished meditation on how to think about thinking. Placed in the context of today's political landscape, Arendt's ideas take on a new immediacy and importance. They require our attention, Young-Bruehl shows, and continue to bring fresh truths to light.

In this deeply thoughtful book, Elisabeth Young-Bruehl turns a critical lens on prejudice. Surveying the study of prejudice since World War II, Young-Bruehl suggests an approach that distinguishes between different types of prejudices, the people who hold them, the social and political settings that promote them, and the human needs they fulfill. Startling, challenging, and courageous, this work offers an unprecedented analysis of prejudice.

This edition of Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's definitive biography of pioneering child analyst Anna Freud includes--among other new features--a major retrospective introduction by the author. Praise for the Second Edition: "Young-Bruehl's description of one of the most complex but brilliant lights in psychoanalytic history has stood as a beacon to students of psychoanalytic history. It is the best most carefully crafted biography of any psychoanalyst and it illuminates the entire tradition with a clarity that only the exploration of the life of the daughter of the founder of the movement could possibly provide. It is a beautifully written insightful and remarkably edifying piece of work. The best has just got better."-- Peter Fonagy, Freud Memorial Professor of Psychoanalysis, University College London Praise for the First Edition: "A gem of biographical writing. . . ."--Ron Grossman, "Chicago Tribune" "Lucid, erudite, briskly authoritative, Elisabeth Young-Bruehl . . . has given us the insight into character that makes biography an art."--James Atlas Elisabeth Young-Bruehl is a faculty member at the Columbia Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research and a practicing psychoanalyst in Manhattan. She lives in New York and Toronto.

In this provocative new book, Elisabeth Young-Bruehl illuminates the psychological and intellectual demands writing biography makes on the biographer and explores the complex and frequently conflicted relationship between feminism and psychoanalysis. A practicing psychoanalyst, a distinguished scholar, and the widely praised biographer of Anna Freud and Hannah Arendt, Young-Bruehl here reflects on the relations between self-knowledge, autobiography, biography, and cultural history. She considers what remains valuable in Sigmund Freud's work, and what areas--theory of character, for instance--must be rethought to be useful for current psychoanalytic work, for feminist studies, and for social theory. Psychoanalytic theory used for biography, she argues, can yield insights for psychoanalysis itself, particularly in the understanding of creativity. Subject to Biography offers not simply the products of an astute mind, but an entree into the thinking process; it welcomes the reader into the writer's workshop.