Avner Falk
Encyclopedia
Avner Falk is an Israel
i clinical psychologist
, psychotherapist, political psychologist, psychogeographer, psychobiographer, and psychohistorian. He is known for his psychoanalytic studies of Jewish and Israeli leaders, of Jewish history
, of the Arab-Israeli conflict, of antisemitism and of Islamic terrorism. He was educated at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
(1960–1966) and at Washington University in St. Louis
(1966–1970). He has published eight books and dozens of articles, including psychoanalytic biographies of Moshe Dayan
, David Ben-Gurion
, Theodor Herzl
, and Napoleon. His book Fratricide in the Holy Land: A Psychoanalytic View of the Arab-Israeli Conflict (2004) won the Outstanding Academic Title award from the American Library Association's Choice magazine in January 2005. Praeger has published his most recent books on the psychology of antisemitism and on the psychology of Islamic terrorism, as well as his book 'The Riddle of Barack Obama: A Psychobiography'(2010).Another highly acclaimed book of Falk is entitled "Islamic Terror, Conscious and Unconscious Motives".
Awards
1987 Resident Scholar, Rockefeller Foundation Study and Conference Center, Bellagio, Italy
1997 Fellow of the International Napoleonic Society
1999 Featured Scholar, Clio's Psyche
2006 Outstanding Academic Title award for Fratricide in the Holy Land from the American Library Association's Choice magazine
Books
1985 משה דיין: האיש והאגדה. ביוגרפיה פסיכואנליטית [Moshe Dayan, the Man and the Myth: a Psychoanalytic Biography]. Jerusalem: Cana. Tel Aviv: Maariv Library.
1987 דוד מלך ישראל: ביוגרפיה פסיכואנליטית של דוד בן-גוריון [David King of Israel: a Psychoanalytic Biography of David Ben-Gurion]. Tel Aviv: Tammuz Publishing.
1993 Herzl, King of the Jews: a Psychoanalytic Biography of Theodor Herzl. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America
1996 A Psychoanalytic History of the Jews. Madison, New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. Cranbury, New Jersey & London: Associated University Presses
2004 Fratricide in the Holy Land: A Psychoanalytic View of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press.
2007 Napoleon Against Himself: A Psychobiography. Charlottesville, Virginia: Pitchstone Publishing.
2008 Antisemitism: A History and Psychoanalysis of Contemporary Hatred. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger.
2008 Islamic Terror: Conscious and Unconscious Motives. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger.
2010 Franks and Saracens: Reality and Fantasy in the Crusades. London: Karnac Books
2010 The Riddle of Barack Obama: A Psychobiography. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger
Articles
1963 Buber and Gandhi. Gandhi Marg, Seventh Year, Fourth Issue, October, pp. 235-247
1964 On Heinrich von Kleist's "Broken Pitcher." Vent, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
1964a Clues to Suicide: Psychiatrists Discuss Israeli Aspects. The Jerusalem Post.
1971 An Israeli Legal-Psychiatric Dilemma. Journal of Forensic Medicine, vol. 18, pp. 39-46
1974 Border Symbolism. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, vol. 43, pp. 650-660. Reprinted (1989) in Stein, H. F. & Niederland, W. G. (Eds.) Maps from the Mind: Readings in Psychogeography. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press
1974a (with Rafael Moses et al.) יחידה ערפית לטיפול בנפגעי הלם קרב בשלהי מלחמת יום הכיפורים [A Rear Unit for the Treatment of Combat Reactions in the Wake of the Yom Kippur War]. Harefuah, Journal of the Israel Medical Association, December 15.
1975-1976 Identity and Name Changes. The Psychoanalytic Review, vol. 62, pp. 647-657
1976 (with Rafael Moses et al.) A Rear Unit for the Treatment of Combat Reactions in the Wake of the Yom Kippur War. Psychiatry, vol. 39, pp. 153-162
1977 Freud and Herzl. Midstream, vol. 23, no. 1 (January), pp. 3-24
1978 Freud and Herzl [expanded version]. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, vol. 14, July, pp. 357-387
1979 פרויד והרצל [Freud and Herzl]. Ha'ummah, vol. 56, pp. 57-75
1979a לפשר שגעונו של הירשל: סיפור פשוט של ש"י עגנון [on the Meaning of Hirschl's Madness: A Simple Tale by S.J. Agnon]. Bammah, no. 81-82, pp. 107-111
1982 Freud und Herzl: die Geschichte einer Beziehung in der Phantasie. Zeitgeschichte (Salzburg), vol. 9, pp. 305-337
1982a The Messiah and the Qelippoth: on the Mental Illness of Sabbatai Sevi. Journal of Psychology and Judaism, vol. 7, pp. 5-29
1982b Eichmann, Rohan and Cohen: Psychiatric Justice in Israel. Medicine and Law, vol. 1, pp. 191-198
1982c The Role of Guilt Feelings in War Neurosis. In Milgram, Norman A. (Ed.) Stress and Anxiety, vol. 8, pp. 163-169. Washington: Hemisphere
1983 Border Symbolism Revisited. International Review of Psycho-Analysis, vol. 10, pp. 215-220. Reprinted in Stein, H. F. & Niederland, W. G. (Eds. 1989) Maps from the Mind: Readings in Psychogeography. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press
1983a Moshe Dayan: the Infantile Roots of Political Action. The Journal of Psychohistory, vol. 11, pp. 271-288
1984 Moshe Dayan: Narcissism in Politics. The Jerusalem Quarterly, vol. 30, pp. 113-124
1985 Aspects of Political Psychobiography. Political Psychology, vol. 6, pp. 605-619
1986 Der Kampf zwischen der Psychoanalyse und den Universitäten. In Pircher, Wolfgang (Ed.) Vernunft als Institution? Geschichte und Zukunft der Universität, pp. 125-134. Vienna: Österreichische Hochschülerschaft.
1987 Ben-Gurion: Immigration as Rebirth. Midstream, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 32-34
1987a על הספה: הדרך הארוכה לשינוי עצמי מציאותי [On the Couch: the Long Road to a Realistic Self-Image]. Politica (Israel), no. 14-15, pp. 52-55
1987b מהלר ופרויד: סיפורה של פגישה [Mahler and Freud: the Story of an Encounter]. Musica (Israel), vol. 6, pp. 30-35
1987c The Meaning of Jerusalem: a Psychohistorical Inquiry. The Psychohistory Review, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 99-113. Expanded version in Stein. H. F. & Niederland, W. G. (Eds. 1989) Maps from the Mind: Readings in Psychogeography. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press
1989 Aspectos psicoanalíticos del conflicto árabe-israelí. Diálogo (Jerusalem, Israel), vol. 19, pp. 3, 6-13, 31
1989a Incest and Parricide on the Throne of Judah. The Psychoanalytic Study of Society, vol. 14, pp. 149-165
1991 לעבד את האבל [Working Through the Mourning]. Davar, March 19
1991a לאומיות כנרקיסיזם קבוצתי הגנתי [Nationalism as Defensive Group Narcissism]. Davar, Oct. 10
1991b Why Are the Serbs and Croats Killing Each Other? The Jerusalem Post, Dec. 6
1992 Unconscious Aspects of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. The Psychoanalytic Study of Society, vol. 17, pp. 213-247
1993 עגנון והפסיכואנליזה [Agnon and Psychoanalysis]. Iton 77, vol. 16, no. 156, pp. 28-39
1993a רוזה כהן ולאה שלוסברג: על יצחק רבין [Rosa Cohen and Leah Schlossbergon Yitzhak Rabin]. Politica (Tel Aviv).
1993b The Problem of Mourning in Jewish History. The Psychoanalytic Study of Society, vol. 18, pp. 299-316
1999 מאוסוולד עד עמיר: דיוקן פסיכואנליטי של רוצח פוליטי [From Oswald to Amir: Psychoanalytic Portrait of a Political Assassin]. Panim, No. 8, Winter 1998-1999, January 1999
2001 De Claude-André Strauss à Claude Vigée: Refléxions d'un ami psychologue. In Mendelson, David & Leinmann, Colette (Eds.) L’Oeil Témoin de la Parole: Rencontre autour de Claude Vigée. Paris: Editions Parole et Silence
2001a Political Assassination and Personality Disorder: The Cases of Lee Harvey Oswald and Yigal Amir. Mind and Human Interaction, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 2-34
2001b Osama bin Laden and America: A Psychobiographical Study. Mind and Human Interaction, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 161-172
2004 Terres promises: le regard d'un psychanalyste. Perspectives: Revue de l'Université Hébraïque de Jérusalem, No. 11, pp.199-207.
2006 Collective Psychological Processes in Anti-Semitism. Jewish Political Studies Review, vol. 18, no. 1-2, pp. 37-55
Book Reviews
1978 Analyzing Freud. Review of From Oedipus to Moses by Marthe Robert. Midstream, vol. 24, no. 10, pp. 70-71
1986 Review of The Immortal Atatürk by Vamik D. Volkan and Norman Itzkowitz. Asian and African Studies, vol. 20, pp. 266-271
1988 Loss and Longing. Review of Freud: A Life for Our Time by Peter Gay. Weekend, The Jerusalem Post Magazine
1992 Old-Hat Freud. Review of Freud and Moses by Emmanuel Rice. Moment, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 67-68
1999 Reviews of Shame and Humiliation: Presidential Decision Making on Vietnam by Blema S. Steinberg (1996) and Richard Nixon: A Psychobiography by Vamik D. Volkan & al. (1997). Political Psychology, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 420-428
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i clinical psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
, psychotherapist, political psychologist, psychogeographer, psychobiographer, and psychohistorian. He is known for his psychoanalytic studies of Jewish and Israeli leaders, of Jewish history
Jewish history
Jewish history is the history of the Jews, their religion and culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions and cultures. Since Jewish history is over 4000 years long and includes hundreds of different populations, any treatment can only be provided in broad strokes...
, of the Arab-Israeli conflict, of antisemitism and of Islamic terrorism. He was educated at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
(1960–1966) and at Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...
(1966–1970). He has published eight books and dozens of articles, including psychoanalytic biographies of Moshe Dayan
Moshe Dayan
Moshe Dayan was an Israeli military leader and politician. The fourth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces , he became a fighting symbol to the world of the new State of Israel...
, David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
, Theodor Herzl
Theodor Herzl
Theodor Herzl , born Benjamin Ze’ev Herzl was an Ashkenazi Jew Austro-Hungarian journalist and the father of modern political Zionism and in effect the State of Israel.-Early life:...
, and Napoleon. His book Fratricide in the Holy Land: A Psychoanalytic View of the Arab-Israeli Conflict (2004) won the Outstanding Academic Title award from the American Library Association's Choice magazine in January 2005. Praeger has published his most recent books on the psychology of antisemitism and on the psychology of Islamic terrorism, as well as his book 'The Riddle of Barack Obama: A Psychobiography'(2010).Another highly acclaimed book of Falk is entitled "Islamic Terror, Conscious and Unconscious Motives".
Awards
1987 Resident Scholar, Rockefeller Foundation Study and Conference Center, Bellagio, Italy
1997 Fellow of the International Napoleonic Society
1999 Featured Scholar, Clio's Psyche
2006 Outstanding Academic Title award for Fratricide in the Holy Land from the American Library Association's Choice magazine
Books
1985 משה דיין: האיש והאגדה. ביוגרפיה פסיכואנליטית [Moshe Dayan, the Man and the Myth: a Psychoanalytic Biography]. Jerusalem: Cana. Tel Aviv: Maariv Library.
1987 דוד מלך ישראל: ביוגרפיה פסיכואנליטית של דוד בן-גוריון [David King of Israel: a Psychoanalytic Biography of David Ben-Gurion]. Tel Aviv: Tammuz Publishing.
1993 Herzl, King of the Jews: a Psychoanalytic Biography of Theodor Herzl. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America
1996 A Psychoanalytic History of the Jews. Madison, New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. Cranbury, New Jersey & London: Associated University Presses
2004 Fratricide in the Holy Land: A Psychoanalytic View of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press.
2007 Napoleon Against Himself: A Psychobiography. Charlottesville, Virginia: Pitchstone Publishing.
2008 Antisemitism: A History and Psychoanalysis of Contemporary Hatred. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger.
2008 Islamic Terror: Conscious and Unconscious Motives. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger.
2010 Franks and Saracens: Reality and Fantasy in the Crusades. London: Karnac Books
2010 The Riddle of Barack Obama: A Psychobiography. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger
Articles
1963 Buber and Gandhi. Gandhi Marg, Seventh Year, Fourth Issue, October, pp. 235-247
1964 On Heinrich von Kleist's "Broken Pitcher." Vent, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
1964a Clues to Suicide: Psychiatrists Discuss Israeli Aspects. The Jerusalem Post.
1971 An Israeli Legal-Psychiatric Dilemma. Journal of Forensic Medicine, vol. 18, pp. 39-46
1974 Border Symbolism. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, vol. 43, pp. 650-660. Reprinted (1989) in Stein, H. F. & Niederland, W. G. (Eds.) Maps from the Mind: Readings in Psychogeography. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press
1974a (with Rafael Moses et al.) יחידה ערפית לטיפול בנפגעי הלם קרב בשלהי מלחמת יום הכיפורים [A Rear Unit for the Treatment of Combat Reactions in the Wake of the Yom Kippur War]. Harefuah, Journal of the Israel Medical Association, December 15.
1975-1976 Identity and Name Changes. The Psychoanalytic Review, vol. 62, pp. 647-657
1976 (with Rafael Moses et al.) A Rear Unit for the Treatment of Combat Reactions in the Wake of the Yom Kippur War. Psychiatry, vol. 39, pp. 153-162
1977 Freud and Herzl. Midstream, vol. 23, no. 1 (January), pp. 3-24
1978 Freud and Herzl [expanded version]. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, vol. 14, July, pp. 357-387
1979 פרויד והרצל [Freud and Herzl]. Ha'ummah, vol. 56, pp. 57-75
1979a לפשר שגעונו של הירשל: סיפור פשוט של ש"י עגנון [on the Meaning of Hirschl's Madness: A Simple Tale by S.J. Agnon]. Bammah, no. 81-82, pp. 107-111
1982 Freud und Herzl: die Geschichte einer Beziehung in der Phantasie. Zeitgeschichte (Salzburg), vol. 9, pp. 305-337
1982a The Messiah and the Qelippoth: on the Mental Illness of Sabbatai Sevi. Journal of Psychology and Judaism, vol. 7, pp. 5-29
1982b Eichmann, Rohan and Cohen: Psychiatric Justice in Israel. Medicine and Law, vol. 1, pp. 191-198
1982c The Role of Guilt Feelings in War Neurosis. In Milgram, Norman A. (Ed.) Stress and Anxiety, vol. 8, pp. 163-169. Washington: Hemisphere
1983 Border Symbolism Revisited. International Review of Psycho-Analysis, vol. 10, pp. 215-220. Reprinted in Stein, H. F. & Niederland, W. G. (Eds. 1989) Maps from the Mind: Readings in Psychogeography. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press
1983a Moshe Dayan: the Infantile Roots of Political Action. The Journal of Psychohistory, vol. 11, pp. 271-288
1984 Moshe Dayan: Narcissism in Politics. The Jerusalem Quarterly, vol. 30, pp. 113-124
1985 Aspects of Political Psychobiography. Political Psychology, vol. 6, pp. 605-619
1986 Der Kampf zwischen der Psychoanalyse und den Universitäten. In Pircher, Wolfgang (Ed.) Vernunft als Institution? Geschichte und Zukunft der Universität, pp. 125-134. Vienna: Österreichische Hochschülerschaft.
1987 Ben-Gurion: Immigration as Rebirth. Midstream, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 32-34
1987a על הספה: הדרך הארוכה לשינוי עצמי מציאותי [On the Couch: the Long Road to a Realistic Self-Image]. Politica (Israel), no. 14-15, pp. 52-55
1987b מהלר ופרויד: סיפורה של פגישה [Mahler and Freud: the Story of an Encounter]. Musica (Israel), vol. 6, pp. 30-35
1987c The Meaning of Jerusalem: a Psychohistorical Inquiry. The Psychohistory Review, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 99-113. Expanded version in Stein. H. F. & Niederland, W. G. (Eds. 1989) Maps from the Mind: Readings in Psychogeography. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press
1989 Aspectos psicoanalíticos del conflicto árabe-israelí. Diálogo (Jerusalem, Israel), vol. 19, pp. 3, 6-13, 31
1989a Incest and Parricide on the Throne of Judah. The Psychoanalytic Study of Society, vol. 14, pp. 149-165
1991 לעבד את האבל [Working Through the Mourning]. Davar, March 19
1991a לאומיות כנרקיסיזם קבוצתי הגנתי [Nationalism as Defensive Group Narcissism]. Davar, Oct. 10
1991b Why Are the Serbs and Croats Killing Each Other? The Jerusalem Post, Dec. 6
1992 Unconscious Aspects of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. The Psychoanalytic Study of Society, vol. 17, pp. 213-247
1993 עגנון והפסיכואנליזה [Agnon and Psychoanalysis]. Iton 77, vol. 16, no. 156, pp. 28-39
1993a רוזה כהן ולאה שלוסברג: על יצחק רבין [Rosa Cohen and Leah Schlossbergon Yitzhak Rabin]. Politica (Tel Aviv).
1993b The Problem of Mourning in Jewish History. The Psychoanalytic Study of Society, vol. 18, pp. 299-316
1999 מאוסוולד עד עמיר: דיוקן פסיכואנליטי של רוצח פוליטי [From Oswald to Amir: Psychoanalytic Portrait of a Political Assassin]. Panim, No. 8, Winter 1998-1999, January 1999
2001 De Claude-André Strauss à Claude Vigée: Refléxions d'un ami psychologue. In Mendelson, David & Leinmann, Colette (Eds.) L’Oeil Témoin de la Parole: Rencontre autour de Claude Vigée. Paris: Editions Parole et Silence
2001a Political Assassination and Personality Disorder: The Cases of Lee Harvey Oswald and Yigal Amir. Mind and Human Interaction, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 2-34
2001b Osama bin Laden and America: A Psychobiographical Study. Mind and Human Interaction, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 161-172
2004 Terres promises: le regard d'un psychanalyste. Perspectives: Revue de l'Université Hébraïque de Jérusalem, No. 11, pp.199-207.
2006 Collective Psychological Processes in Anti-Semitism. Jewish Political Studies Review, vol. 18, no. 1-2, pp. 37-55
Book Reviews
1978 Analyzing Freud. Review of From Oedipus to Moses by Marthe Robert. Midstream, vol. 24, no. 10, pp. 70-71
1986 Review of The Immortal Atatürk by Vamik D. Volkan and Norman Itzkowitz. Asian and African Studies, vol. 20, pp. 266-271
1988 Loss and Longing. Review of Freud: A Life for Our Time by Peter Gay. Weekend, The Jerusalem Post Magazine
1992 Old-Hat Freud. Review of Freud and Moses by Emmanuel Rice. Moment, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 67-68
1999 Reviews of Shame and Humiliation: Presidential Decision Making on Vietnam by Blema S. Steinberg (1996) and Richard Nixon: A Psychobiography by Vamik D. Volkan & al. (1997). Political Psychology, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 420-428