The Creation of Dr. B: A Biography of Bruno Bettlheim

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Summary: comment by Frederick Crews, author of The Memory Wars
Review: "A riveting and wholly credible account of a charlatan--no milder term will suffice--who, applying untested Freudian dogmas to a malady that he never understood, bamboozled our intellectual and psychiatric elite, sequestered luckless children, and showered inappropriate blame on anguished parents. Richard Pollak's excellent study ought to leave us better prepared to resist the next Bettelheim who comes along."

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Summary: starred Kirkus review
Review: "A thorough demolition of the reputation of Bruno Bettelheim, who is depicted here as tyrannical, arrogant, cruel, and above all a consummate liar....Strong, well-documented charges that are certain to stir rebuttals."

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Summary: comment by Studs Terkel
Review: "In this stunning, revelatory biography of our most celebrated psychotherapist, Richard Pollak has held a delicate balance. It is an astonishing performance; his brother had been a patient--a "guest"--of the doctor. The work is a gripping detective story."

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Summary: comment by J. Anthony Lukas, author of Common Ground
Review: "The Creation of Dr. B is a remarkable achievement, a genuinely investigative biography which strips the cant and pretense from the Bettelheim myth and gives us the man as he was known to his co-workers, friends, and family. Richard Pollak himself emerges in these pages as a relentlessly inquisitive reporter, a thoughtful critic of this corner of modern psychotherapy, and a humane student of the Holocaust's frightful legacy."

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Summary: comment by Hannah Pakula, author of An Uncommon Woman
Review: "The Creation of Dr. B is an eye-opening portrait of one of the icons of modern psychotherapy, Bruno Bettelheim. Backed by what appears to be unassailable data, Richard Pollak presents Bettelheim not as the saintly savior of mentally ill children, but as a frightened Viennese Jew, saved from Dachau and Buchenwald, who invented his academic credits, falsified his research, and terrorized both his patients and their parents in order to perpetuate a self-created myth. Therapists and laymen alike will be fascinated by this arresting biography."

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Summary: boxed and starred Publishers Weekly review
Review: "This sure-to-be controversial biography [is] a significant, meticulously documented book that should force a reevaluation of Bettelheim's writings."

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Summary: comment by Gloria Steinem
Review: "When admirers praised Bruno Bettelheim as 'one of Freud's few genuine heirs,' they didn't know how right they were. In The Creation of Dr. B, a biography both carefully researched and riveting in its narrative, Richard Pollak shows just how much Bettelheim resembled Freud in his obsession with being right, blaming the victim, and identifying with the aggressor so greatly that it was enough to make Bettelheim an aggressor himself--even with the children he was supposed to be trying to help."

Rating:
Summary: Irrefutable and damning
Review: A book that obviously comes out of deep passion and painstaking scholarship, written with a cold and disciplined fury. The evidence Pollak uncovers is so shocking as to be practically grotesque. It would be hilarious if it wasn't so tragic. Bettelheim blighted the lives of a generation of autistic children (as well as their parents), as well as those of any other children who were unfortunate to fall into his care. Pollak's harshness is never less than scrupulously fair, and is clearly richly merited.

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Summary: At last, the truth, The real story of Dr. Bettelheim
Review: As a former student at Bettelheim's Orthogenic School, I would like to commend Mr. Pollack for a well written and truthful account of Dr. B. He was NOT the "saint" as people would like to have him be. Mr. Pollack's description of Dr. B is totally accurate in every detail. We, the students, as Mr. Pollack did point out, were very intimidated by Dr. B and were often slapped and beaten by him. The Orthogenic School staff, never came to our aid, themselves, as well, being intimadated by this man. I am glad Mr. Pollak wrote this book and only wish others would also expose the fake Dr.B.

Rating:
Summary: At last, the truth, The real story of Dr. Bettelheim
Review: As a former student at Bettelheim's Orthogenic School, I would like to commend Mr. Pollack for a well written and truthful account of Dr. B. He was NOT the "saint" as people would like to have him be. Mr. Pollack's description of Dr. B is totally accurate in every detail. We, the students, as Mr. Pollack did point out, were very intimidated by Dr. B and were often slapped and beaten by him. The Orthogenic School staff, never came to our aid, themselves, as well, being intimadated by this man. I am glad Mr. Pollak wrote this book and only wish others would also expose the fake Dr.B.