Background
Avner Falk was born in British-mandate Palestine (now Israel) on April 2, 1943. He is the son of M. E. and Ada R. S. Falk.
Jerusalem, Israel
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
1 Brookings Dr, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA
Washington University
Jerusalem, Israel
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
1 Brookings Dr, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA
Washington University
Jerusalem, Israel
Shorashim Center for Jewish Studies
(The life of Theodor Herzl (1860-1904), the founder of pol...)
The life of Theodor Herzl (1860-1904), the founder of political Zionism, was brief, fascinating, dramatic and tragic. Herzl lived only 44 years, most of which he spent desperately trying to become a famous playwright; yet at the age of 35 he became obsessed with the Zionist Idea, and soon became the charismatic political leader of Zionist Jewry, revered and idolized by many, vilified and excommunicated by many others. In this psychoanalytic biography, Avner Falk attempts to cast new light, through deep psychoanalytic probing, on the life and spirit of Theodor Herzl. Falk's thesis asserts that Herzl's espousal of political Zionism, as well as the various other 'solutions' to the Jewish Question such as duelling and conversion, were desperate attempts to resolve the basic personal conflict of his entire life. He yearned for fusion with his early mother and had a compelling need for a separate self and therefore displaced his personal feelings to geopolitical entities, Europe symbolizing his mother and the Jews of the state symbolizing Herzl himself.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0819189251/?tag=2022091-20
1993
(This is the first English-language book ever to apply psy...)
This is the first English-language book ever to apply psychoanalytic knowledge to the understanding of the most intractable international struggle in our world today—the Arab-Israeli conflict. Two ethnic groups fight over a single territory that both consider to be theirs by historical right—essentially a rational matter. But close historical examination shows that the two parties to this tragic conflict have missed innumerable opportunities for a rational partition of the territory between them and for a permanent state of peace and prosperity rather than perennial bloodshed and misery. Falk suggests that a way to understand and explain such irrational matters is to examine the unconscious aspects of the conflict. He examines large-group psychology, nationalism, group narcissism, psychogeography, the Arab and Israeli minds, and suicidal terrorism, and he offers psychobiographical studies of Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat, two key players in this tragic conflict today.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/029920250X/?tag=2022091-20
2004
(Although Napoleon Bonaparte has been a favorite subject o...)
Although Napoleon Bonaparte has been a favorite subject of biographers for nearly two centuries, to date no full-scale psychobiography of arguably the most compelling, fascinating, and complex leader in world history has ever been published. With Napoleon Against Himself, internationally recognized scholar Avner Falk fills this void. He not only considers Napoleon's intellect but also what use he made of it, how it affected his emotional life, and whether he used intellectualization as one of his unconscious defensive processes. Additionally, he examines Napoleon’s ambivalent relationship with his mother, his identification with the “Motherland,” and his fits of narcissistic rage, violence, and aggression. Specifically, Falk focuses on his numerous irrational, self-defeating, and self-destructive actions. In weaving in the psychological interpretations that have previously been proposed for Napoleon's actions with his own new insights, Falk has created a most stimulating and original work that sheds much needed light on Napoleon’s troubled inner world.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011H5I6K2/?tag=2022091-20
2007
(In the summer of 2006, the author received a message that...)
In the summer of 2006, the author received a message that read, Love the Nazis, and KILL THE JEWS DEAD. And that was the trigger that launched internationally known scholar Falk into work on this book. Anti-Semitism has once again become a worldwide phenomenon, growing largely during the last decade of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st. Among the spurs for this are the migration of Muslim populations and the ongoing Israeli-Arab wars. In this far-reaching and comprehensive volume, Falk delves deeply into the current events, history, and literature on anti-Semitism, integrating insights from psychology, sociology, anthropology, psychoanalysis, and political science. The result is an absorbing exploration of one of the oldest scourges of humanity, spotlighting the irrational and unconscious causes of anti-Semitism. In the summer of 2006, the author received a message that read, Love the Nazis, and KILL THE JEWS DEAD. And that was the trigger that launched internationally known scholar Avner Falk into work on this book. Anti-Semitism has once again become a worldwide phenomenon, growing largely during the last decade of the twentieth century and the early years of the twenty-first. Among the spurs for this are migration of Muslim populations and the ongoing Israeli-Arab wars. In this far-reaching and comprehensive volume, Falk delves deeply into the current events, history and literature on anti-Semitism, integrating insights from psychology, sociology, anthropology, psychoanalysis, and political science. The result is an absorbing exploration of one of the oldest scourges of humanity, spotlighting the irrational and unconscious causes of anti-Semitism. This book also features chapters on the psychodynamics of racism, fascism, Nazism, and the dark, tragic, and unconscious processes, both individual and collective, that led to the Shoah. Holocaust denial and its psychological motives, as well as insights into the physical and psychological survival strategies of Holocaust survivors, are explored in depth. There are also chapters on scientific anti-Semitism including eugenics.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002AS9GW8/?tag=2022091-20
2008
(Independent scholar Falk analyzes the genesis of Islamic ...)
Independent scholar Falk analyzes the genesis of Islamic terror from many standpoints, including religious, cultural, historical, political, social, economic and, above all, psychological. Drawing on his training as a clinical psychologist, Falk's writings specialize in psychohistory and political psychology. Here, he examines topics including infantile experience and adult terrorism, the meaning of terror, terrorists and their mothers, narcissistic rage and Islamic terror, and whether terrorists are normal people, as some scholars claim. He also describes the infantile development of terrorist pathology, non-psychoanalytic theories of terrorism, globalization's effect on terrorism, and the notion of the clash of civilizations. Other topics addressed in this reader-friendly analysis include history's first Islamic terrorists and three important cases―two recent, deadly terrorists and a primary figure in our current war on terror. Independent scholar Falk analyzes the genesis of Islamic terror from many standpoints, including religious, cultural, historical, political, social, economic and, above all, psychological. Drawing on his training as a clinical psychologist, Falk's writings specialize in psychohistory and political psychology. Here, he examines topics including infantile experience and adult terrorism, the meaning of terror, terrorists and their mothers, narcissistic rage and Islamic terror, and whether terrorists are normal people, as some scholars claim. He also describes the infantile development of terrorist pathology, non-psychoanalytic theories of terrorism, globalization's effect on terrorism, and the notion of the clash of civilizations. Examining the emotional structure of traditional Muslim families, Falk shows us the Muslim child's ambivalence toward his or her parents, ways in which Muslims abuse women and children, and the roots of Muslim rage, and why all of that plays into the development of future terrorism. Other topics addressed in this reader-friendly analysis include history's first Islamic terrorists and three important cases―two recent, deadly terrorists and a primary figure in our current war on terror. The central idea throughout the book is that a person's attitude toward terror and terrorism―as well as whether he or she becomes a murderous terrorist, or even who wages a global war on terror―has much to do with that person's own terrifying experiences in infancy and childhood. Such terror, usually experienced first in the earliest interactions with the mother, is symbolically expressed, as Falk shows, in fairy tales and myths about terrifying witches and female monsters. Further terror may be experienced in the relationship with the father and also in various other traumatic ways. It is these early terrors, when extreme and uncontrollable, that most often produce terrorists and wars on terror, Falk argues. Thus, his book focuses on the conscious, but also on the irrational and unconscious causes of terrorism.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007JFC8QS/?tag=2022091-20
2008
(The Riddle of Barack Obama: A Psychobiography is the firs...)
The Riddle of Barack Obama: A Psychobiography is the first complete psychological biography of President Barack Obama written by a professional clinical psychologist. Covering Obama's life to date, as well as the lives of his parents, grandparents, and other ancestors, this fascinating volume illuminates the personal, professional, political, emotional, intellectual, and creative aspects of Obama's personality, as well as the motives--conscious and unconscious--for his beliefs and actions. Dr. Avner Falk draws on hundreds of biographies, newspaper and magazine articles, interviews, investigative reports, and more, using psychoanalytic models developed by Sigmund Freud, Donald Winnicott, Peter Blos, Heinz Kohut, and Schiffer to probe Obama's psychological development. Examining every facet of the president's biography, he delves into his earliest feelings of abandonment and helplessness, his inner conflicts, his protective relationship with his mother, his ambivalent identification with his father, and his quest for identity. Perhaps most intriguingly, Dr. Falk explores the psychological origins of Obama's "fierce ambitions" and the ingredients of his charisma.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003Z0CCDU/?tag=2022091-20
2010
(This is the first and only book to examine the Crusades f...)
This is the first and only book to examine the Crusades from the added viewpoint of psychoanalysis, studying the hidden emotions and fantasies that drove the Crusaders and the Muslims to undertake their terrible wars. The reader will learn that the deepest and most powerful motives for the Crusades were not only religious or territorial - or the quest for lands, wealth or titles - but also unconscious emotions and fantasies about one's country, one's religion, one's enemies, God and the Devil, Us and Them. The book also demonstrates the collective inability to mourn large-group losses and the collective needs of large groups such as nations and religions to develop a clear identity, to have boundaries, and to have enemies and allies. Motives which the Crusaders and the Muslims were not aware of were among the most powerful in driving several centuries of terrible and seemingly endless warfare.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CYS25SB/?tag=2022091-20
2010
educator psychologist psychotherapist author
Avner Falk was born in British-mandate Palestine (now Israel) on April 2, 1943. He is the son of M. E. and Ada R. S. Falk.
Falk studied psychology and clinical psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 1960 to 1966 and at Washington University in St. Louis, where he received his doctorate in 1970.
After returning to Israel in 1971, Falk worked as a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist in Jerusalem until 1995. He was also a lecturer at Teachers Association for the Advancement of Education, Shorashim Center for Jewish Studies, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Martin Buber Center for Adult Education.
Since 2000, Falk works as a freelance writer, speaker and as a psychotherapist in private practice.
During his career, he also served in Israel Defense Forces and was a reserve mental health officer in Medical Corps.
Avner Falk is best known as an Israeli clinical psychologist and author. He has published dozens of articles and ten books in these fields, as well as in psychobiography, psychogeography, the psychoanalysis of literature, and other areas of applied psychoanalysis. He has published psychoanalytic biographies of Moshe Dayan, David Ben-Gurion, Theodor Herzl, Napoleon and Barack Obama. His latest books are "Franks and Saracens: a psychohistory of the Crusades," published by Karnac Books, and "The Riddle of Barack Obama: a psychobiography," published by Praeger.
Falk is also a contributor of articles and reviews to magazines and newspapers, including Journal of Forensic Medicine, Journal of Psychology and Judaism, Midstream, Jerusalem Quarterly, Political Psychology, and Medicine and Law.
(Although Napoleon Bonaparte has been a favorite subject o...)
2007(This is the first and only book to examine the Crusades f...)
2010(This is the first English-language book ever to apply psy...)
2004(Independent scholar Falk analyzes the genesis of Islamic ...)
2008(The Riddle of Barack Obama: A Psychobiography is the firs...)
2010(The life of Theodor Herzl (1860-1904), the founder of pol...)
1993(In the summer of 2006, the author received a message that...)
2008Falk is a member of the International Society of Political Psychology, International Napoleonic Society and American Historical Association.
