Book picks similar to
Heinz Kohut: The Making of a Psychoanalyst by Charles B. Strozier


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psychoanalysis
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Understanding Muhammad


Ali Sina - 2008
    It seeks to unveil the mystery of that man. Historians tell us Muhammad used to withdraw to a cave, spending days wrapped in his thoughts. He heard bells ringing and had ghostly visions. He thought he was demon possessed, until his wife reassured him he had become a prophet. Convinced of his status, he was intolerant of those who rejected him, assassinated those who criticized him, raided, looted, and massacred entire populations. He reduced thousands to slavery, raped, and allowed his men to rape female captives. All of this, he did with a clear conscience and a sense of entitlement. He was magnanimous toward those who admired him, but vengeful toward those who did not. He believed he was the most perfect human creation and the universe's raison d'être. Muhammad was no ordinary man. He was a narcissist. Understanding Muhammad, ventures beyond the stories. Focusing on the "why" rather than the "what," it unravels the mystique of one of the most enigmatic and influential men in history.

Towards a Gay Communism: Elements of a Homosexual Critique


Mario Mieli - 1977
    Among the most important works ever to address the relationship between homosexuality, homophobia and capitalism, Mieli's essay continues to pose a radical challenge to today's dominant queer theory and politics. With extraordinary prescience, Mieli exposes the efficiency with which capitalism co-opts 'perversions' which are then 'sold both wholesale and retail'. In his view the liberation of homosexual desire requires the emancipation of sexuality from both patriarchal sex roles and capital.Drawing heavily upon Marx and psychoanalysis to arrive at a dazzlingly original vision, Towards a Gay Communism is a hitherto neglected classic that will be essential reading for all who seek to understand the true meaning of sexual liberation under capitalism today.

The Lonely Crowd: A Study of the Changing American Character


David Riesman - 1950
    Its now-classic analysis of the “new middle class” in terms of inner-directed and other-directed social character opened exciting new dimensions in our understanding of the psychological, political, and economic problems that confront the individual in contemporary American society. The 1969 abridged and revised edition of the book is now reissued with a new foreword by Todd Gitlin that explains why the book is still relevant to our own era.“As accessible as it is acute, The Lonely Crowd is indispensable reading for anyone who wishes to understand American society. After half a century, this book has lost none of its capacity to make sense of how we live.”—Todd GitlinPraise for the earlier editions:"One of the most penetrating and comprehensive views of the twentieth-century urban American you're likely to find."—Commonweal"Brilliant and original."—Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

Chaplin: A Life


Stephen Weissman - 2008
    Both his parents were in show business, but severe alcoholism cut short his father's flourishing career, and his beloved mother first lost her voice, then lost her mind to syphilis. Charlie at age seven was committed to the Hanwell School for Orphans and Destitute Children. How then did this poor, lonely child become such an extraordinary comedian, known and celebrated worldwide? Chaplin cut his teeth in British music halls, but it was America that made him. At age twenty-five, he was touring here with a vaudeville troupe when his talents caught the eye of entertainment entrepreneur Mack Sennett, who spirited him off to California and signed him to a film contract. Chaplin became Sennett's star comedian, and by twenty-eight the actor had become a millionaire and the world's greatest celebrity. Weissman traces Chaplin's life and the sources of his genius in fascinating detail, demonstrating how his tragic childhood shaped his personality and his art. Infamous for his politics and his scandalous sex life, Chaplin was a much more complex and contradictory character than has hitherto been known. Weissman brilliantly illuminates both the screen legend and the turbulent era through which he lived and worked.

Clues to Deceit: A Practical List


Joe Navarro - 2011
    This is a practical guide for anyone who is interested in detecting deception, written by the author of the international bestseller, "What Every Body is Saying." This is an easy-to-use short guide with a list of over two hundred of the most frequently seen behaviors associated with deception. It is intended for anyone who asks questions to get at the truth or who conducts due diligence. That includes human resource personnel, managers, school administrators, social scientists, law enforcement personnel, students, parents, insurance representatives, or attorneys.This work is not meant to be an investigative manual but rather a quick reference for those who do interviews and would benefit from a ready list of behaviors associated with deception, the concealment of information, hidden issues, or guilty knowledge. It was written with that purpose and intent in mind. Never before have so many key behaviors been gathered together in such a practical way − starting with the head all the way down to the feet. This guide was designed to be easy to use and also easy to access on your smartphone, iPad, iTouch, Kindle, or any other E-reader device. Now you can have this information, developed by world class interviewer and body language expert, at your fingertips any time. Whether it’s the forehead, the eyes, the nose, the lips, the shoulders, the neck, the torso, the hands, the thumbs, or the feet—all the behaviors associated with deception, stress, hidden knowledge or issues can now be quickly accessed as never before.

Read My Desire: Lacan Against the Historicists


Joan Copjec - 1994
    Ordinarily, these discourses only cross paths long enough for historicists to charge psychoanalysis with an indifference to history, but here psychoanalysis, via Lacan, goes on the offensive. Refusing to cede historicity to the historicists, Copjec makes a case for the superiority of Lacan's explanation of historical process, its generative principles, and its complex functionings.

The Practice of Everyday Life


Michel de Certeau - 1980
    In exploring the public meaning of ingeniously defended private meanings, de Certeau draws brilliantly on an immense theoretical literature in analytic philosophy, linguistics, sociology, semiology, and anthropology--to speak of an apposite use of imaginative literature.