The Pelican History of Psychology is probably, both in span and latitude, the most comprehensive history of the subject in print. Too often other histories are anxiously concerned with philosophical concepts, confine themselves to the progress of basic experimental research, and stop short at the 1920s. Robert Thomson, on the other hand, extends his scope outside the main stream of theory, deals with ideas which are specifically psychological, and brings his history far enough forward to discuss the trends which have developed since 1945. His outline of the birth of psychology in the early nineteenth century, of Darwin's impact, the achievements of the first generation of German, British, French, and American psychologists, and the major theories of Freud, Jung, and the Behaviorists, among others, is clear, logical, and authoritative: but his book extends beyond that.