In my April 27th, 2011, blog post, I announced my decision to put together and self-publish a book entitled “Bowlby’s Battle for Round Earth—Summaries of Bertalanffy & Midgley Revealing the Systems—Attachment Theory (Dis)Connection.” I briefly updated this announcement in my June 13th, 2011, blog post by simply saying that I was still battling away on Bowlby’s Battle. Well, I am happy to announce that the battle is over and Bowlby’s Battle in now available through WordClay (the publisher) as well as other online outlets (like Amazon.com). Click on this link to view the web page for Bowlby’s Battle over at WordClay.
Here’s the description of Bowlby’s Battle from the WordClay web site:
— Begin Description —
Historians will be the first to admit that the vanquished rarely if ever enjoy the privilege of telling their story let alone recording it for posterity. In Bowlby’s Battle for Round Earth, geologist, psychotherapist and philanthropist Frederick Leonhardt invites us to view John Bowlby—arguably the father of attachment theory—as a warrior who ultimately was vanquished during his long battle to bring about a naturalistic systems theory revolution within such disciplines as psychology, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, mental health, sociology and public policy. The image of Bowlby as a defeated warrior may help us to understand why the story of attachment as an application of naturalistic systems theory in such areas as psychology and mental health has never been fully told. In his 1969 book General System Theory, Ludwig von Bertalanffy—arguably the father of systems theory—tells us that others, like Bowlby, have tried and failed as well—Abraham Maslow (one of the chief animators behind humanistic psychology), Kurt Goldstein (a pioneer in Gestalt therapy), and Karl Menninger (of Menninger Clinic and Menninger Foundation fame).
In Bowlby’s Battle for Round Earth, Leonhardt takes a first pass at trying to understand why luminaries in the field of psychology such as Bowlby, Maslow, Goldstein, and Menninger failed in their attempts to bring about a naturalistic systems theory revolution. Leonhardt suggests that the naturalistic systems theory revolution was conquered from within as much as from without: From within, the move from naturalistic purpose to sociological purpose and then on to emancipatory purpose was the main culprit (an evolutionary process detailed in Gerald Midgley’s 2000 book Systemic Intervention); from without, the meteoric rise of mechanistic systems theory (or cybernetics) made for an impenetrable foe. Today, emancipatory purpose motivates the human rights movement, while at the same time mechanistic or cybernetic systems form the foundation upon which rests such cultural phenomena as Internet search engines, digital video recording services, smartphones and frequent flyer cards. In what can only be called a dark prognostication, Leonhardt sees short circuits forming between emancipatory and cybernetic purpose resulting in an arcing of energy that may ultimately provide the fuel that allows us to rocket into the emerging age of posthumanism.
The format for Bowlby’s Battle for Round Earth is a bit unorthodox: It consists of two executive summaries written by Leonhardt for the board and staff of the Frederick H. Leonhardt Foundation (named for his grandfather). “Think of Bowlby’s Battle as a very detailed annotated bibliography consisting of only two entries,” explains Leonhardt, who is executive director of the FHL Foundation. Leonhardt decided to summarize Bertalanffy’s 1969 book General System Theory and Gerald Midgley’s 2000 book Systemic Intervention as a first pass toward telling the story behind the systems–attachment theory (dis)connection. Even though Leonhardt is quick to point out that his executive summaries are hacks at best, he is convinced that the best way to truly receive and understand John Bowlby’s attachment theory message is to have a sense for the systems theory revolution (both mechanistic and naturalistic) that surrounded Bowlby during the 1950s and 60s, and to recognize that systems theory greatly influenced John Bowlby’s thinking in the areas of attachment formation, maintenance and expression.
Leonhardt openly admits that Bowlby’s Battle for Round Earth is just a starting point and not a definitive work on the Bowlby–systems theory (dis)connection. As a matter of fact, Leonhardt encourages the reader to view Bowlby’s Battle as a detailed RFP (request for proposal). In his capacity as a philanthropist, Leonhardt would enjoy nothing more than for a researcher (or research group) to come along and turn his “annotated bibliography” into a full-fledged treatment of the Bowlby–systems theory (dis)connection. Leonhardt points out that with all the controversy surrounding such topics as RAD (reactive attachment disorder), attachment or holding therapy, and attachment parenting, it may be time for mental health practitioners, science historians, psychology researchers and policy advocates to bring a naturalistic systems perspective back to Bowlbian attachment theory. And the work has started. In 2010, the FHL Foundation commissioned a research project that resulted in a paper by Gary Metcalf entitled John Bowlby: Rediscovering a Systems Scientist. Hopefully your read of Bowlby’s Battle for Round Earth will motivate you (or your research group) to carry on work designed to investigate and reveal the Bowlby–systems theory (dis)connection.
— End Description —
Trust me, it was a heck of a lot of work putting Bowlby’s Battle together. I now know about features in Word that I never knew existed. Word is a tough program to use to assemble a book, but it is possible. I just wish to put a shout out to all the many people—friends, family, the Foundation board and staff, and colleagues—who helped along the way. I could not have finished this book project without your support and encouragement.
On a practical level, we do have a limited number of copies of Bowlby’s Battle that we can provide to non-profit organizations free of charge. If you would like to request a copy, please use the Contact Us button above. Now that Bowlby’s Battle is complete and available I’ll try to be more diligent about maintaining a steady flow of blog posts. As always, feel free to contact us with comments, questions or even needed corrections concerning Bowlby’s Battle or even the Bowlby Less Traveled (BLT) blog site.
