Encounters with John Bowlby: Tales of Attachment is an insightful, heartfelt and faithful homage to John Bowlby (1907-1990), the ‘father’ of attachment theory. The book unfolds as a touching and absorbing biographical journey into his life and work, where Bowlby is portrayed vividly through his individual, family and group attachment history, as well as his personal and professional development. This is a thoroughly researched and unique volume: a creative hybrid of scholarly erudition and passionately-delivered real life experiences covering the entire field of attachment. The work is co-constructed from the privileged position of sitting at the feet of the founder of the theory, drawing on his lifelong research and knowledge. The reader can learn from and identify with stirring, true stories that illustrate the struggle to become attached, to survive, and to grow. Encounters with John Bowlby will appeal to anyone who is interested in personal development and relationships. It will be of special interest to mental health professionals, psychotherapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, social workers, psychoanalysts and group analysts, as well as other healthcare professionals, such as general practitioners and paediatricians. The text will also be useful to students undertaking doctoral courses or attending other courses related to attachment and John Bowlby. ‘Part festschrift, part eulogy, part love-letter, Ezquerro’s account of his mentorship with John Bowlby -- and his own journey to psychotherapeutic coming of age -- combines theoretical exposition with vivid anecdote in ways that are readable, personal, engaging, and very real. Like Bowlby himself, his story brings much-needed fresh air into the world of psychoanalytic discourse. Strongly recommended for all practitioners and students, who will find here a rare amalgam of common sense and inspiration.’ - Prof Jeremy Holmes MD FRCPsych, University of Exeter, UK ‘Arturo Ezquerro brings a contagious enthusiasm for life and relationships which makes Attachment Theory more real, attractive and palatable. My father would have been deeply moved by it.’ - Sir Richard Bowlby , medical and scientific photographer, and eldest son of John Bowlby. ‘A labour of love which gives a fascinating insight into the mind and ideas of the father of Attachment Theory.’ - Dr Colin Murray Parkes, OBE, MD, FRCPsych, DL. Author, Bereavement: Studies of Grief in Adult Life. ‘This marvellous book weaves the author’s professional journey into an account of his six years of affectionate supervision with one of the great developmental scientists of the twentieth century. Bowlby’s own biographical journey, and his single-minded determination to define ‘the nature of the bond’ move the narrative along, and move the reader too. The volume also gives compelling narratives on the history of psychoanalysis and the post war Tavistock Clinic.’ - Dr Sebastian Kramer , FRCPsych. Honorary consultant child & adolescent psychiatrist, Tavistock Clinic. Family therapist. Co-editor, The Politics of Attachment: Towards a Secure Society. ‘Reading this book has been a great pleasure and has taken me back 45 years to when John Bowlby was my tutor at the Tavistock Clinic. I soon realised his warmth and thoughtful passion… The volume is a warm and faithful tribute to Bowlby’s life’s work and to all those touched by the grip of attachment and separation.’ - Dr Marcus Johns , FRCPsych. Psychoanalyst, former Tavistock Clinic’s consultant, director of the London Child Guidance Training Centre, and editor of the Bulletin of the British Psychoanalytical Society. ‘Arturo Ezquerro has written an eloquent and moving account of the life and thought of John Bowlby whose recognition of the importance of childhood attachment has now become common wisdom, after being met initially with strong resistance in the psychoanalytic profession. Of all the fields of scientific enquiry psychoanalytic theory is perhaps the one most affected by the personality and experience of the propounder and one of the merits of this study is to place Bowlby’s thought intimately within its biographical and professional contexts. The latter appropriately include the author’s personal testimony to the quality of Bowlby’s mentorship and, if the most touching moments in the book are judiciously chosen quotations from patients, this seems very apt to its subject’s evident ability to listen.’ - Prof Michael Bell , English and Comparative Literary Studies, University of Warwick, UK. Author, The Sentiment of Reality: Truth of Feeling in the European Novel , and H. D. Lawrence: Language and Being . ‘This volume brings to life a great man and his ideas in a way that the best of biographies can. And while the book is at it, we learn as much about Bowlby’s ideas as about his warmth and passionate nature, to which so many of his students and co-workers became personally attached.’ - Prof Bob Hinshelwood , MD, FRCPsych, C