BURSTON, Daniel 1954–

PERSONAL: Born December 12, 1954, in Naharia, Israel; son of Baruch and Margaret (Diamond) Burston; married Sharna Olfman, August 6, 1990; children: Adam, Gavriela. Ethnicity: "Jewish." Education: York University, B.A. (honours), 1979, M.A., 1980, Ph.D. (social and political thought), 1985, Ph.D. (psychology), 1989. Politics: "Leftish/communitarian." Religion: Jewish. Hobbies and other interests: Music.

ADDRESSES: Home—104 Forest Glen Dr., Pittsburgh, PA 15221. Office—Psychology Dept., Duquesne University, 600 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15282. E-mail—burston@duq.edu.

CAREER: Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, assistant professor of psychology, 1992–97; associate professor of psychology. 1998–; associate of the Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh; C. G. Jung Analyst Training Program, Pittsburgh, PA, adjunct faculty, 1994–98; Austen Riggs Treatment Center, Stockbridge, MA, Erik Erikson scholar in residence, August 1999 and July 2000; invited and/or keynote speaker at numerous universities and institutes; presenter at annual conferences; reviewer of books and articles for Westview Press, Guilford Press, the Journal for the History of the Behavioral Sciences, and others.

MEMBER: University of Pittsburgh Center for Philosophy of Science (associate); C. G. Jung Analyst Training Program of Pittsburgh (member, advisory board); Janus Head (member, advisory board); Journal of the Society for Existential Analysis (member, editorial board).

WRITINGS:

The Legacy of Erich Fromm, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 1991.

The Wing of Madness: The Life and Work of R. D. Laing, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 1996.

The Crucible of Experience: R. D. Laing and the Crisis of Psychotherapy, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 2000.

Author of articles in professional journals, including The Psychoanalytic Review, Journal of Humanistic Studies, Review of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, Harvest: Journal for Jungian Studies, Journal of the History of Behavioral Sciences, Journal of the Society for Existential Analysis, and International Forum of Psychoanalysis. Author of book chapters. The Legacy of Erich Fromm has been translated into Japanese.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Situating Erikson: Erik Erikson and the Impossible Profession.

SIDELIGHTS: Daniel Burston, professor of psychology at Duquesne University in Pittsbur gh, Pennsylvania, has written biographies of two famous psychologists: Erich Fromm and R. D. Laing. A respected psychologist, scholar, and author, Burston has been a keynote speaker at the Erich Fromm Society in Germany, the Washington School of Psychiatry in Washington, DC, and the Royal College of Psychiatry in London, England, among many others. He has also presented papers at the annual conferences of such organizations as Cheiron, the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, and the International Federation for Psychoanalytic Education.

In his first book, The Legacy of Erich Fromm, Burston discusses the life and work of the noted German sociologist and psychoanalyst. Fromm, for a time, was part of the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research before immigrating to the United States, where he taught in New York. Like his erstwhile colleagues in the Frankfurt School, Fromm integrated psychoanalytic theory with wide-ranging cultural studies in economics, anthropology, and philosophy. Unlike them, however, Fromm penned his extensive writings in a fashion that was accessible to the nonscientist. Some of his preoccupations included idolatry, the nature of aggression, and the negative effects of materialism.

Believing that Fromm's legacy has fallen into obscurity, Burston treats Fromm's theories at length and sympathetically in his book. "Despite Burston's obvious esteem for Fromm, he gives a balanced presentation," noted Janice Arenofsky in Library Journal. "Burston's attitude towards Fromm resembles that of Fromm to Freud, a curious admixture of objectivity with cozy adulation," remarked Sheena Meredith in New Scientist. "In many ways he mimics Fromm's more endearing aspects, including his inconsistencies. He has a flair for writing and is at his best as a biographical raconteur, which more than compensates for occasional lapses into pompous phraseology." Meredith added, "While occasionally capable of absurd extrapolation, Fromm does leave a profound legacy, and Burston does him justice in reviving his predictions of the consequences of materialistic society." Adam Phillips called the biography a "very useful book" and stated in the New Republic, "Psychoanalysis, when it is not hidden away as dogma, is genuinely pluralistic and democratic, in a way that Fromm appreciated, because it encouraged us to take seriously those things we are inclined to dismiss. For that reason, The Legacy of Erich Fromm is a timely book, since Fromm's work has virtually disappeared from intelligent consideration."

Scottish psychiatrist and writer Ronald David Laing is the subject of Burston's second biography, The Wing of Madness: The Life and Work of R. D. Laing. Although he vigorously repudiated the label, Laing was often called an "anti-psychiatrist." Writing within the radical leftist movement of the 1960s and 1970s, he believed that a psychotic breakdown is not necessarily the result of neurological dysfunction and may afford the patient unexpected opportunities for self-exploration and integration. Therefore, Laing propounded, psychiatrists should not try to eliminate symptoms, but rather to understand their meaning. As with Fromm, Burston proposes in the biography to rehabilitate Laing's reputation, which has declined dramatically since the 1980s as Laing remained critical of the family and modern culture and of the mental health system until his death at age 62. The Wing of Madness caught the attention of critics. An Economist reviewer remarked, "Mr. Burston is convincing when he argues that Laing's reputation has fallen too far."

Burston's The Crucible of Experience: R. D. Laing and the Crisis of Psychotherapy explores the religious and philosophical roots of Laing's ideas. Fully acknowledging that Laing's work is full of contradictions, Burston shows that his subject was more interested in allowing his readers to probe their own beliefs than he was in providing authoritative answers. Neil McLaughlin, writing a review for the Canadian Journal of Sociology Online, said the book "provides an enormously useful discussion of the links between the existential and phenomenological philosophical traditions and Laing's existential psychology." A great rebel among those who practiced psychiatry, Laing often spoke in favor of the child over the parents and the patient over the psychiatrist. Yet, he is often thought to have been wrong in his assertion that family dysfunction alone can cause schizophrenia. McLaughlin wrote, "Burston's book resists turning Laing into either an intellectual hero to be worshiped or an icon to be debunked." Library Journal writer David Valencia called Burston's approach "evenhanded," acknowledging both Laing's innovations and contradictions. McLaughlin concluded: "Burston makes a compelling case for Laing's core argument about the need for a theory and therapeutic practice that puts unmeasurable qualities such as human hope, fears, evil and even spiritual well-being at the center of any psychological approach in the human sciences and helping professions…. A reminder of the courage and humanistic commitment of flawed but brilliant individuals like R. D. Laing provides a welcome addition to debates about the politics and sociology of mental health."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, July, 1996, review of The Wing of Madness: The Life and Work of R. D. Laing, p. 1790.

Choice, November, 1991, review of The Legacy of Erich Fromm, p. 523.

Economist, October 19, 1996, review of The Wing of Madness, p. 15.

Isis, September, 1999, review of The Wing of Madness, p. 624.

Journal of the History of Ideas, July, 1991, review of The Legacy of Erich Fromm, p. 526.

Kirkus Reviews, June 1, 1996, review of The Wing of Madness, p. 796.

Library Journal, February 15, 1991, Janice Arenofsky, review of The Legacy of Erich Fromm, p. 211; August, 1996, review of The Wing of Madness, p. 94; June 15, 2000, David Valencia, review of The Crucible of Experience: R. D. Laing and the Crisis of Psychotherapy, p. 100.

New Republic, July 8, 1991, Adam Phillips, review of The Legacy of Erich Fromm, pp. 41-42.

New Scientist, January 11, 1992, Sheena Meredith, review of The Legacy of Erich Fromm, pp. 45-46; November 16, 1996, review of The Wing of Madness, p. 48.

New Statesman, July 26, 1996, Carole Angier, review of The Wing of Madness, p. 46.

New York Review of Books, November 14, 1996, review of The Wing of Madness, p. 30.

New York Times Book Review, September 8, 1996, review of The Wing of Madness, p. 13.

Publishers Weekly, June 3, 1996, review of The Wing of Madness, p. 68.

SciTech Book News, November, 1996, review of The Wing of Madness, p. 42.

Society, July, 1992, review of The Legacy of Erich Fromm, p. 92.

Times Literary Supplement, September 27, 1996, review of The Wing of Madness, p. 27.

University Press Book News, September, 1991, review of The Legacy of Erich Fromm, p. 3.

ONLINE

Canadian Journal of Sociology Online, http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/cjscopy/reviews/ (May-June, 2001), Neil McLaughlin, review of The Crucible of Experience.

Duquesne University Web site, http://www.duq.edu/ (August 1, 2002), Daniel Burston faculty home page.

Harvard University Press, http://www.hup.harvard.edu/ (August 1, 2002), review of The Crucible of Experience.