Three Case Histories

In this masterpiece of scientific insight, Freud illuminates the lives of three men: the "Rat Man" - a military officer to whom rats symbolize money, sexual organs, disease, and, in fact, himself; the "Wolf Man" - a wealthy young Russian who suffers from an incapacitating wolf phobia; and a German judge, Doctor Schreber, who believes that he is the wife of God. Freud portrays these unhappy men in engrossing detail, but perhaps his greatest achievement comes in making them human beings deserving sympathy, rather than merely bizarre personalities.