A critical reassessment of one of the most controversial philosophers of the last century. Few figures have had so decisive and fundamental an influence on the course of modern cultural history as Sigmund Freud. Yet few figures also have inspired such intense controversy and continued debate. The criticisms directed against his ideas have tended to become better informed with the passing of time. With almost a hundred years of Freud scholarship to draw on, it is now possible, perhaps for the first time, to offer a considered and balanced judgement on the value both of Freud's thought and of the movement he founded. It is this which Richard Webster has set out to do in a book which provides both a lucid introduction to Freud's theories and a striking account of why it is that Freud is still widely regarded as the most important of all modern thinkers.