SOURCE: Swales, Peter J. “Protecting Freud's Image from Sigmund.” Los Angeles Times Book Review (8 May 1988): 1, 13.

In the following negative review of Freud: A Life for Our Time, Swales criticizes Gay for his largely unquestioning assessment of Freudian theory.

In the interest of promulgating his controversial theories, Sigmund Freud saw fit to report and interpret myriad events from his own life, mind and dreams. But he was exceedingly selective when doing so and, later in life, was sharply averse to submitting to a candid biography. Hence, even now, almost half a century after his death—and despite the fact so much is known about the events of his life as a whole—major facets of his mind, character, and personal life remain opaque and subject to much contention. And such matters are critical to any final evaluation of psychoanalysis.

Two attempts have been made at a definitive biography of...