Uncovering Lives: The Uneasy Alliance of Biography and Psychology

Psychobiography is a sometimes suspect practice heavily rooted in Freudian psychology. This, initally, may deter some from embracing psychobiography as a valid form of biography, let alone a pshychological analysis. Yet, Alan Elms manages to not only allay some of the hesitations and frustrations surrounding psychobiography, he also convinces us of some valied points of development of many, and varied, individuals. From Issac Assimov to Leonardo DaVinci to President Bush, Elms manages to allure us into accepting psychobiography with both his solid research basis and his witty style. His analysis of Freud, and especially of Freud's violations of his own proscriptions for psychobiography, is particularly illuminating and, in many regards, comical. Elms avoids drowning in theory, but manages to apply enough at apropos moments that we are secure in the knowledge that this is, indeed, and psychologically based approach. All around a good book for those interested in psychobiography.