Nancy Caro Hollander profiles ten Argentine, Chilean, and Uruguayan psychologists and psychoanalysts who experienced firsthand, and later strove to comprehend, the political and social oppression that occurred under the military dictatorships in their countries during the 1970s and 1980s. She recounts how psychoanalysts employed what she calls "liberation psychology" to understand the brutal trauma suffered by the populace under fiercely repressive regimes and then to help themselves and others to confront and overcome a culture of intimidation, coercion, torture, and, frequently, murder.

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Layli Phillips

5.0 out of 5 stars Psychoanalysis meets Marxism meets Transnational Psychology

Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2000

Not many US psychologists know a lot about psychology in Latin America, whether in terms of history or theory. Nancy Caro Hollander's book provides an interesting introduction to both through the use of historical memoir centering upon six prominent psychologists--many of them European emigres--situated in the Southern Cone region (Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay). Her narrative examines how their classical psychoanalytic training, animated yet challenged by their Marxist political commitments, ultimately unfolded and became transformed in the crucible of the revolutionary (and counter-revolutionary) political environment of mid-century Latin America. These psychologists developed and courageously enacted a personally, professionally, and politically risky activist psychotherapeutic praxis which stands as an interesting counterpoint to traditional US approaches. This book will be an enlightening and thought-provoking read for those psychologists who are genuinely interested in cross-cultural perspectives on psychological theory and praxis, politically-engaged psychology, activist psychology, and/or history of psychology from a global perspective. The book's interdisciplinary approach, which combined history, political science, and psychology, was quite intellectually stimulating. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others.

W. Bollinger

5.0 out of 5 stars Great text for teachers

Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2000

Hollander has done a marvelous job of situating her subject in the context of modern Latin American history. Using this book as a supplemental text, teachers can enrich courses in political science, sociology, anthropology, Latin American studies and 20th century history. For certain courses in social psychology this book is essential. Students of the history and psychology of the Holocaust will want to read Hollander. High school teachers who have had "Facing History" training will find this book full of suggestive ideas and curriculum materials.

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Nancy Caro Hollander has a unique background that provides a multidisciplinary approach to her writing that integrates her training as a psychoanalyst and an historian, as well as her experience as a documentary filmmaker and a radio producer and host.

Hollander is Professor Emerita of Latin American history at California State University and a Research Psychoanalyst in private practice in Los Angeles. She was host of Pacifica Radio's "Just a Minute" for 13 years. Hollander's keen insights into the contemporary crises we face in the U.S. have been deeply affected by her experiences since the late 1960s in Latin America, where she has lived and studied the intimate and personal experiences of people suffering the conditions of extreme political polarization and economic dislocation. She shows how we in this country are now facing the challenges characteristic of the Global South right in the heart of empire.

In her latest book, "Uprooted Minds: Surviving the Politics of Terror in the Americas", Hollander explores the psychological meanings of the critical social, economic and political crises that we face in the U.S. as this country loses its hegemonic position in the world and its democratic institutions and culture at home. Her analysis is illustrated with the personal stories of self-reflective politically-engaged psychoanalysts in Latin America and the U.S., whose psychological expertise sheds light on the emotional experience people have to an increasingly terrifying social reality.