Revenge: Narcissistic Injury, Rage, and Retaliation (Margaret S. Mahler)

Revenge: Narcissistic Injury, Rage, and Retaliation addresses the ubiquitous human wish to take revenge and settle scores. Featuring the contributions of eleven distinguished mental health professionals, it offers a panoramic and yet deep perspective on the real or imagined narcissistic injury that often underlies fantasies of revenge and the behavioral trait of vindictiveness. It describes various types of revenge and introduces the concept of a ‘good-enough revenge.’ Deftly blending psychoanalysis, ethology, religious studies, literary criticism, and clinical experience, the book goes a long way to enhance empathy with patients struggling with hurt, pain, and desires to get even with their tormentors. This volume is of great clinical value indeed!

Kerry Kelly Novick is a child, adolescent, and adult psychoanalyst who trained with Anna Freud. She is on the faculties of the Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute, the Michigan Psychoanalytic Council, the New York University Psychoanalytic Institute, the New York Freudian Society, the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis, and the University of Michigan Medical School. She has been working with children and families for over 40 years and joined other colleagues to found a non-profit psychoanalytic school, Allen Creek Preschool, in Ann Arbor.

Salman Akhtar is professor of psychiatry at Jefferson Medical College and Training and Supervising Analyst at the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia.