All the Mothers Are One

US: Columbia University Press, 1992. Paperback. Near Fine. In excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlig hting. The spine remains undamaged. Based on the author's ethnographic research in India, the book explores the psychology of Hinduism, and offers an innovative synthesis of psychoanylsi s with modern anthropological theories of cultural difference. Stanley N. K urtz offers a new interpretation of the multiple "mother goddesses" of Hind uism, and explores how this multiplicity is key to understanding early chil dhood experience in which a child is raised by many "mothers" in the Hindu joint family. Arguing that traditional psychoanalytic approaches to Indian culture have a pplied Western models without regard to differing cultural circumstances, K urtz suggests that immersion in a joint family plays a central role in the development of feelings and needs which are carried over into adult life. T he book concludes with a briefr comparison of mothering in India and contem porary America. All the Mothers Are One makes a significant contribution to the growing debate concerning the role of psychoanalysis in the interpreta tion of culture and the study of cross-cultural human development. Editorial Reviews Review Kurtz's meticulous scholarship and psychoanalytic interpretations are...presented in a lively style of writing that is very accessible and holds one's attention...an extremely interesting work as well as an original contribution to the psychoanalytic understanding of Hinduism.