Totem and Taboo by Sigmund Freud

This book is a pretty wild - at points it can be like hearing underwater. Freud's translated writing style is investigating the unexplored psychology of primitive races. It can feel like the conclusions he draws are wild, and the arguments feel hard to follow. Odd? Certainly. Historically valuable? Scientific? Find out for yourself, and order today. This copy is not in great shape, and the price reflects that. There's some writing on the pages. The book itself is very old. As far as I can tell, it was produced before ISBN was standardized, (pre-1965). This is reflected in the price. 

BOOK SUMMARY 

In this brilliant exploratory attempt (written in 1912-1913) to extend the analysis of the individual psyche to society and culture, Freud laid the lines for much of his later thought, and made a major contribution to the psychology of religion. Primitive societies and the individual, he found, mutually illuminate each other, and the psychology of primitive races bear marked resemblances to the psychology of neurotics. Basing his investigations on the findings of the anthropoligsts, Freud came to the conclusion that totemism and its accompanying restriction of exogamy derive from the savage's dread of incest, and that taboo customs parallel closely the symptoms of compulsion enurosis. The killing of the "primal father" and the consequent sense of guilt are seen as determining events both in the misty tribal pre-history of mankind, and in the suppressed wishes of individual men. Both totemism and taboo are thus held to have their roots in the Oedipus complex, which lies at the basis of all neurosis, and, as Freud argues, is also the origin of religion, ethics, society, and art. 

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