The Secret Ring: Freud's Inner Circle and the Politics of Psychoanalysis

In the spring of 1919, Sigmund Freud brought his closest colleagues - Ferenczl, Abraham, Rank, Sachs and Jones - together and gave them each a golden ring, symbolizing the formation of a new force in psycho-analysis and securing their undying loyalty to the Master. Freud called this group his "Secret Committee". This inner circle of men, given to bickering and infighting, helped Freud expel Carl Jung and was to set the ground rules of psycho-analysis for decades to come. The author examines the complexity of the relationships between these men, whose personal and professional lives were absolutely dominated by Freud. The author also wrote biographies of Havelock Ellis and Melanie Klein.