press

THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

February 28, 2003

By JENNIFER K. RUARK

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ANALYZE THIS: A new press will be devoted to precisely the kind of studies Dr. Post does, along with other psychological approaches to public affairs, both past and present.

One of the first books from Pitchstone Press will be a psychobiography of Napoleon, by Avner Falk, an independent
Israeli scholar. Talks are under way for a book analyzing the psychological makeup of figures who inspire blind loyalty, such as David Koresh and Osama bin Laden.

Also under contract is PsychoBible: Behavior, Religion, and the Holy Book, by Armando Favazza.The professor of psychiatry at the University of Missouri at Columbia was inspired by patients in his private practice who quoted the Bible to explain their actions. His examination of the relationship between religious belief and behavior is due out in October.

"We're really a family business," says Kurt Volkan, who is running the press with his wife, Pelin Cayirlioglu, and his brother, Kevin Volkan, who is a professor of psychology at California State University-Channel Islands. Pitchstone, supported by "other professionals and academics with discretionary funds," is the brainchild of the brothers' father, Vamik D. Volkan, a professor emeritus of psychiatry at the University of Virginia. His many books include Bloodlines: From Ethnic Pride to Ethnic Terrorism (Westview Press) and the coauthored Richard Nixon: A Psychobiography (Columbia University Press).

"He always had a dream of starting a small press to publish the work of colleagues and friends who shared his worldview, and even maybe some of his own work," says Kurt Volkan. The Volkans hope that by keeping overhead low and publishing 8 to 12 books a year, with crossover appeal, they can turn a profit.

"Psychological interpretations tend to be repudiated by a lot of people, but I think there's something there," says Mr. Volkan, who has an M.B.A. from Duke University and a background in editing political journals. "We hope our press will lend more credibility to the entire field of psychobiography and psychohistory."