Franz Alexander was the first graduate of the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute, the man who turned down Freud's offer to enter a private practice in Vienna, and the man Freud told to go to America and spread the doctrine of psychoanalysis. He was also the grandfather of Ilonka Venier Alexander, the author of this remarkable account of one of the major figures of psychoanalysis in the twentieth century, set against the backdrop of the growth of analysis in America.

The book considers his personal and professional life, the role of family in his decisions, and how those decisions...