Table of Contents

Introduction; Memory observed by introspection; Freud's theory of memory; Additional Freudian memory concepts; Psychoanalytic continuations; Some psychoanalytic offshoots: summarizing trends; Developmental memory theories; Sociological and historical perspectives; Memory transmission and cultivation; Conclusions and possibilities; Index.

Reviews

"Provocative, elegant, masterful, scholarly, and original . . . . This work raises and addresses some basic questions about memory that are accessible even to laypersons or novices . . . . This is the sort of book that will never go out of date. I fully expect that it might be read with benefit and enjoyment 50 years from now . . . . I know of no other book that attempts what Ross's book does, much less does it so well." --John A. Meacham, Ph.D., Professor
of Psychology, State University of New York at Buffalo
"All in all, this is one of the best psychology books I have read all year. . . . The volume will surely gain a wide readership . . . . It is a timely book, and yet it is ahead of its field. It sets a glowing example." --John M. Broughton, Associate Professor of Psychology and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
"Ross should be commended for his concern with the ideas of the past and his ability to discuss them in the content of contemporary concerns....Ross has realized his goals successfully and has made a significant contribution to scholarship on the history of ideas concerning autobiographical memory.... Ross's efforts are worthy of serious attention from students of memory and history." --Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences
"Bruce Ross's book represents an excellent review of psychoanalytic approaches to memory and reminds us of the problems of meaning which the student of human memory must eventually confront. Freud's legacy - an emphasis on the central roles of language and memory in the experience of our own selves, autobiographies, motives, and, ultimately, personal meaning - is well represented in Ross's book, which will make illuminating reading for any serious student of
human memory." --THES
"The best available survey of autobiographical memory, from a framework that is both eclectic and interdisciplinary; it not only discusses, carefully and almost comprehensively, the various approaches taken to this topic (descriptive, developmental, social, experimental, and clinical), but also cautiously extends the major studies in cognitive psychology undertaken in the 1980s. . . . succeeds in integrating four chapters on the psychoanalytic literature which
constitute, I believe, one of the best reviews in print and which include thoughtful examinations of Freud's contributions, subsequent formulations, and interesting 'offshoots.' . . . surely a book
that every psychoanalytic candidate should have already read. . . . necessary reading for all psychoanalysts." --International Journal of Psychoanalysis
"Should prove to be a rich source of creative ideas for informed attempts at integration in a very complex field and a thought-provoking introduction to many interwoven memory concepts." --Perceptual and Motor Skills
"The first volume in recent memory, concerning itself with a topic in general psychology, that devotes the bulk of its pages to an exposition of the relevant contribution of psychoanalysis. . . . representative of the new interdisciplinary approach. It is of inestimable value to the analyst to examine the phenomena of analytic work through the eyes of other disciplines. . . . with this book, Ross places himself and his institution in the vanguard of the
interdisciplinary movement." --Herbert M. Wyman, The Psychoanalytic Quarterly
"A lucid, cohesive, and fascinating overview. It will also serve as a particularly valuable complement and balance for neuroscientists, neuropsychiatrists, neuropsychologists and neurologists."--AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY, APRIL 1995