Community psychology, seymour sarason, and the big picture

Abstract

Psychoanalysis, General Custer and the Verdicts of History arrived to the authors in time for Christmas break, a time during which many students and faculty unwind from a semester's length of work and activity. "Unwind" and "escape" quickly become synonymous at this point. The title of the book seemed to assure that there would be little "unwind/escape" value in this book, especially when it started with the word "psychoanalysis." For us, though longtime fans of Sarason's, reading and responding to the book represented a project, a task, in a word, work. After all, the initial invitation to participate in this venture, though appealing and interesting, contained language that was unavoidably "work-like" (i.e., "double-spaced first draft . . .no later than. . .no longer than.. ."). Dutifully, we embarked upon our "work" to remark on what Sarason's writing has to say about prevention. Surprisingly, "work" turned out to be fun and Psychoanalysis, General Custer and the Verdicts of History turned out to have the "unwind/escape" impact we were sure it would not have. The style in which the book was written--non-scholarly, largely unreferenced, and in a non-APA format-further enhanced the perception that we were engaged in "fun" reading rather than "work" reading. Sarason is lively, colorful, fun, utterly smart, and thoughtful. However, at the same time, the reader is aware that the writing is that of a well-read scholar. The task before us, as stated earlier, was to glean preventive implications from Sarason's writing. Although the topic of Psychoanalysis, General Custer and the Verdicts of History was not Community Psychology or prevention, Community Psychology and prevention themes were readily identifiable throughout the essays. This may have as much to do with the fact