Rising to the Light: A Portrait of Bruno Bettelheim

By Theron Raines

In 1983, after years of trying to persuade Bruno Bettelheim to write his autobiography, Theron Raines, his friend and literary agent, himself undertook to tell the life of the renowned but often... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679401962
• ISBN13: 9780679401964
• Release Date: August 2002
• Publisher: Knopf
• Length: 544 Pages
• Weight: 2.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.7" x 6.6"

Customer Reviews

A lucid, informative biography

After all the angry attacks that followed Bettelheim's death and after the unmerited smearing of his reputation as a thinker, it is a relief to read his balanced biography. Raines wrote book worthy of its subject, a book that does justice to Bettelheim as an educator and therapist. The book does not delve into many details of Bettelheim's private life and because of that is very cogent. On the other hand, none of the important events are omitted, none of the difficulties and contradictions glossed over. The portrait that emerges is of a man who, like Maria Montessori and Janusz Korczak, transformed his own personal tragedy into a life-restituting effort for those who are most vulnerable: children. A most helpful book to read for anyone who would like to understand Bettelheim's attitude to children is "A Good Enough Parent."