Product Description

After decades of myth making, C.G. Jung remains one of the most misunderstood figures in Western intellectual history. This comprehensive study of the origins of his psychology provides a new perspective on the rise of modern psychology and psychotherapy. It reconstructs the reception of Jung's work in the human sciences, and its impact on the social and intellectual history of the twentieth century. The book creates a basis for any future discussion of Jung by opening new vistas in psychology.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #560325 in Books
• Published on: 2003-12-22
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 404 pages

Review
"...one of the most definitive books available on Jung and his impact on psychology. A must read for anyone who wishes to explore Jungian thinking. Essential." Choice

About the Author
Sonu Shamdasani is a historian of psychology and a Research Associate of the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at University College London. He is editorial advisor to the heirs of C. G. Jung and his most recent book Cult Fictions: C. G.Jung and the Founding of Analytical Psychology has won numerous prizes.

Customer Reviews

Uppermost Interest
As a conclusion, let me just say that I am convinced of the uppermost interest of this work for the Psychology's Story.

The best history of how Jung's ideas emerged
Jung and the Making of Modern Psychology is a landmark in Jungian scholarship. The author, Sonu Shamdasani, is a historian of psychology, with a specialization in Jungian psychology.
This book is both a gift and a challenge for Jungian psychology. As a gift, it provides a picture of an era in which new ideas were in the air. It carefully traces how those ideas emerged and eventually crystalized in Jung's psychology. As a challenge, it points to areas still unresolved, hopes Jung had for psychology that have largely gone unfulfilled by his successors.
Early in the book, Shamdasani says "once, when asked who he was, Miles Davis replied that he had changed the course of music several times in his life. Something similar could be said of Jung." By the end of his life, however, Jung felt that he had failed in his mission: "I was unable to make people see what I am after. I am practically alone . . . I have failed in my foremost task, to open people's eyes to the fact that man has a soul and there is a buried treasure in the field and that our religion and philosophy are in a lamentable state. Why indeed should I continue to exist?"
Perhaps by providing this history of ideas, filled both with how Jung came to his model of psychology, and with his hopes for the future of such a psychology, Sonu Shamdasani has provided a starting point for Jungians to help prove that Jung did not fail in his task. The appearance of his book is a monumental event in Jungian scholarship.

Tangible and Intangible
As I was once a prospective PH.D. candidate, I can defnitely appreciate the quality and painstaking research that went into this finely written scholarly work. However, having been coached by a very fine Jungian psychologist, Dr. H. Skipton Leonard, PH.D., I find this book more a history of psychological thought than an in-depth study of Jung and ensuing practical applications.