Reviews for Psychiatrist of America, the life of Harry Stack Sullivan

The average rating for Psychiatrist of America, the life of Harry Stack Sullivan based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-04-20 00:00:00 Hj Hejjj This book took me about 2 years to finish. The first fourth of the book was a slog for me, with most of it focusing on the history and culture of rural New York where Sullivan grew up as well as the Irish immigrant experience in that area of the country. It's my belief that most peoples' childhoods really aren't that interesting and that what makes most people unique happens to them after the age of 18 or so. And so I found this hard to get through. But after that the book becomes fascinating. HSS is a unique person in the history of psychology/psychiatry, someone who struggled at some level with schizophrenia himself while also leading a highly productive scholarly life. The author was a former colleague of HSS and so I think there could be a more probing and critical biography yet to be written (perhaps there already is) but the level of attention and detail and care, as well as access to HSS's intimates (not that he had many), balances this biography out in the positive. HSS's life was a sad one in many ways. The author is much more guarded about HSS's sexual orientation than later scholars have been. But she does a wonderful job capturing some of the early days of psychiatry in the US as it tries to distinguish itself from German models. And again, HSS is a unique figure in the field. Once I got past the first 80-100 pages, this book became a page turner.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-09-22 00:00:00 David Hass 4.25/5 Would have gotten a 5 out of me if it could actually make a difference.