The historian and Freud biographer Peter Gay, here offers insights into Freud's life and thought. In eight essays, Gay explores topics ranging from Freud and Shakespeare to Freud's favourite jokes, from the names Freud chose for his children to Gay's controversial, spoof review of "The Interpretation of Dreams". The essays, some of them published for the first time or expanded from their original versions, are accompanied by introductions. Peter Gay is author or editor of other books including "Freud: A Life for our Time", "A Godless Jew: Freud, Atheism, and the Making of Psychoanalysis", "Freud for Historians" and "Freud, Jews and Other Germans".