Make no mistake about it, Broken Images, Broken Selves is no mere anthology about what one of its editors, Stanley Krippner, calls "the varieties of dissociative experiences," but a deeply penetrating critical and historical analysis of dissociation in the light of the best of post-modern thought. The editors have not only sought out some of the leading voices in this area, but have managed to create out of their contributors' articles a volume that coheres like a marvelously orchestrated symphony, in which every movement, however diverse, is nevertheless part of a unified whole.

In the case of this book, that whole is represented by its emphasis on the narrative structure of dissociative experiences. Taking this approach to these experiences allows the reader to see how this kind of perspective can lead to fresh insights into such theoretical issues as the nature and construction of the self, and such practical ones as the ways in which therapists can work with their patients to foster the emergence of life-potentiating narratives.

In presenting this approach, the editors and their contributors have helped to articulate an extremely promising revisioning of dissociative experiences that will well serve the interests of both researchers and clinicians--and ultimately, of course, those who undergo these profound but potentially transformative discontinuities; e.g., post-traumatic stress disorder, near-death experiences, mediumship, multiple personality, fantasy proneness, alien abduction reports.

In my view, Broken Images, Broken Selves is the most searching, stimulating, and important volume on the topic of dissociation yet to appear, and it should be a landmark book in this domain for years to come. I recommend it unreservedly and with great enthusiasm.

Reviewed by Kenneth Ring, Ph.D.

Until his retirement, Kenneth Ring, Ph.D., was professor of psychology at the University of Connecticut. He is the author of several books, including 'Life at Death' and 'The Omega Project.'

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