History of Psychology Through Symbols

...it awakens our faith in the future.

Dr. Broderick's History of Psychology through Symbols does exactly what we would want from a history of psychology, it awakens our faith in the future. As a lover of history and teacher of the history of psychology, I have wanted a textbook that offers a rich description of psychological history but that is also inspirational and engaging, showing us (clinicians, educators, depth practitioners) opportunities to move into a shared, creative future. His analysis integrates the history of individual experience within a cultural context that accounts for the emancipatory interests of genuine science while maintaining the creative energies necessary to help psychology find its own voice amongst other important disciplines. His writing style is fluid, compelling, and inviting all at the same time. This is truly a user-friendly approach to our shared history and is much needed. It is an encyclopedia without sounding like one.

I was rewarded with an incredibly original, evocative, and encyclopedic yet highly readable work.

Long fascinated by the analysis of myth, symbol, and story-telling in understanding the human psyche, I approached The History of Psychology through Symbols by Jim Broderick with great interest. I was rewarded with an incredibly original, evocative, and encyclopedic yet highly readable work that employs the very medium he analyzes - the experience and meaning of symbols. Charting its political, historical, and socioeconomic evolution, Dr. Broderick invites the reader to explore the power of symbol from the earliest religions to modern psychology. It is with great pleasure that I recommend this book to all who share the enchantment of the symbol-producing brain.

...radically original and deeply thoughtful

Jim Broderick’s History of Psychology Through Symbols is a radically original and deeply thoughtful way of creatively reimagining a story that we tend to see as hum-drum and all-too-familiar.