In these sixteen essays, written between 1939 and 1965, George Devereux argues that the understanding of all human behavior requires the application of both psychological and sociocultural methods of explanation. This unique approach, which differentiates sanity and insanity from social adjustment and maladjustment, provides a rigorous foundation for a general theory of psychoanalytic ethnopsychiatry.

George Devereux, a psychoanalyst and anthropologist, discusses crime, sexual delinquency, dreams in non-Western cultures, and cannibalistic drives of parents. He frequently cites case material from his extensive field work with the Mahave Indians of Arizona and the Sedang Moi of Vietnam and from his clinical work with non-Western patients.

"What is most impressive about this book is its intelligence, its sophistication, and its charm. . . . This book presents Piaget's work and his person better than anything else that I know about."—David Elkind, Tufts University

"The tone is one of constant movement from the most ordinary to the most abstruse. There are 14 conversations with 'le Patron,' some in 1969, some in 1975, and several more with co-workers in various fields. . . . In Mr. Bringuier's book, in a pleasant informal way, we see a sophisticated non-scientist exploring Piaget's domain with the master. Some of Piaget's best-known findings about children as explained along the way, but Mr. Bringuier has ways of bringing out the relation of this psychological work to the whole of Piaget's enterprise, and we get a good sense of the man and his work."—Howard E. Gruber, New York Times Book Review