Many of us would be less interested in psychoanalysis were it not for the clinical implications of Freud’s contribution. I think that Unwerth has succeeded in quietly bringing up the rich cultural background surrounding Freud’s whole therapeutic enterprise. Such philosophic underpinnings to his work are apt to be neglected in our own era’s enthusiasm for the latest technological advances, but it is impossible to abstract Freud’s clinical practices from the whole cultural era of which they were a part, even if it requires an effort on our part to see Freud in the light of Old World thinking. It seems well, on putting down this brilliant new book, to be reminded that every clinical situation is also a moral and ethical challenge. Freud’s Requiem is welcome in helping to ensure that it is possible for psychoanalysis to continue to instruct us for the 21st century.