"Given the contentious history of the Menningers, Friedman’s account is remarkable for its restrained but candid editorial tone, meticulous documentation, and avoidance of sensationalism. . . . Despite the author’s even-handed treatment of his subject, Menninger was not well received by family members, who blamed the book’s publication for contributing to Karl Menninger’s death a few months later."—ISIS
"Dr. Friedman must also have something of the lawyer, or at least the politician, in him. His powers of persuasion coaxed this remarkably closed institution into baring its secrets."—Raleigh News and Observer
"A comprehensive biography of American psychiatry’s first family. Readers receive a psychological analysis of the family’s intricate—some might say compulsive—ties to its work. . . . A thorough, accomplished addition to the history of American mental health treatment."—New York Times Book Review
"Throughout the book are nuggets that in part reveal the prevailing attitudes of male doctors in the early part of the century but also raise questions about the sensitivities and effectiveness of the Menningers themselves leading a clinic and dealing with other people."—New York Times
"In the critical period that immediately followed the Second World War, the Menninger dynasty clearly had a strong and visible hand in the design of the nation’s mental health care strategies. . . . Its directors, Karl and Will Menninger, became arguably America’s most influential psychiatrists through a combination of public writings, governmental leverage, and prominence within professional organizations. Based on extensive interviews, access to heretofore (and presumably hereafter) confidential materials, Friedman has fashioned a readable—and at times lurid—saga of psychiatry’s own ‘first family.’ Wife-swapping, revenge, blackmail using information obtained in analytical sessions, it's all here. . . . The true significance of Friedman’s work lies . . . [in] his account of . . . the culture clash between the values of Jewish, cosmopolitan scholars and the small-town provincialism of the Menninger Clinic brought to the surface a tension that continues to reside within much of American psychiatry. . . . It is through accounts such as this that the story of American medicine will eventually merge within mainstream social and cultural history."—Journal of American History
"A finely wrought and delicately balanced study that adds measurably to our knowledge of an intriguing family and to our appreciation of the inner workings of one of the most influential mental health institutions of this century. Along the way Friedman has managed to shed some much needed light on a wide variety of topics, including the distinctive personalities and intellectual interests of some of the leading figures in twentieth-century psychiatry and psychology; the bureaucratic imperatives of running a major psychiatric practice, hospital, and educational program; the Byzantine politics of the American psychiatric and psychoanalytic establishments; the role gender plays in these politics; and the problems inherent in funding such endeavors in an increasingly competitive era."—Reviews in American History
"Both a significant contribution to the history of American psychiatry and an engaging story of a remarkable, and eccentric, family."—Buffalo News
"Friedman has succeeded in what he obviously set out to do—produce a definitive book of record about a dedicated family, not without flaws, and how they created and operated an immensely influential mental health conglomerate on the edge of the Kansas prairie."—Kansas City Star
"Fascinating for students of the history of psychiatric treatment in the U.S."—Kirkus
