ABSTRACT
Sigmund Freud's and Albert Einstein's fame pose problems for anyone seek an understanding of their contributions. The dominant image of Freud is Freud the Severe. Freud created a new way to comprehend the inner world of human experience. Freud's life is exceptionally well documented. In addition there is detailed historical research into Freud's surrounding circumstances, including the gonzo detective work carried out by Peter Swales in unearthing the identities and circumstances of Freud's early patients, an account of Freud's use of cocaine. Swales enjoys tilting at the windmill of Freud's fame, playing the bad boy of Freud scholarship. The young Freud and his family were part of the great nineteenth-century wave of Jewish emigration to the West from the ghettos of the Pale of Settlement, the areas in eastern Europe to which the Jews were confined by law. Freud's connections with the Social Democratic political community later brought him patients and students.
