To commemorate our fiftieth year, we are proudly reissuing a selection of our most distinguished books from the last half-century. Here, in brand new packages, with new introductions and editorial comments by leading contemporary figures, are ten exemplars of the intellectual vigor that is the hallmark of Basic Books: classic titles by John Bowlby, Sigmund Freud, Josef Breuer, Claude Levi-Strauss, James Q. Wilson, Clifford Geertz, and Michael Walzer. That books like these remain in print is itself a testament to their enduring value. By calling attention to their sustained presence we hope to introduce new readers to landmark works that will continue to roil cultural waters for decades to come.

Bowlby's magisterial trilogy analyzes the impact of attachment, separation, and loss, and this first volume focuses on the critical role of the bond between mother and infant in emotional development. Allan Schore, whose pioneering synthesis of neurobiology with attachment research has shown how the brain gets into the act, contributes a foreword that catapults Bowlby's legacy into the new millennium.