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It is impossible to comment in detail on a review of over a thousand pages of collected material on such a huge subject, but this monumental work should not be neglected without appropriate notice. In addition to the text, the book contains 4,442 references and 59 pages of detailed author and subject indices.
Ten years ago Bellak reviewed the literature from 1936 to 1946 under the title of "Dementia Praecox." The present book reviews the literature from 1946 to 1956, with slight overlapping. The editor believes that there are many schizophrenias and that there are many causes and cures. He states: "It is hoped that the either/or, single organic factor, descriptive or nebulous psychodynamic notions of schizophrenia will eventually give way to a carefully conceptualized and experimentally verified concept of a multiple-factor, psychosomatic-genetic, ego psychological syndrome... which will adequately explain all of the clinical contingencies one may encounter." To this