The Tavistock Century

'A book worth reading about a great history [...] This book has now made the history and significance of the Tavi, including the mythical side (e.g. “Operation Phoenix”, the new life from the ashes of the Second World War) much clearer to me.'

-- Thomas von Salis, Swiss Archives of Neurology, Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (translated)

There is much individual and collective wisdom between the lines of this thought-provoking collection, which charts the scope and evolution of the Tavistock’s pioneering and often controversial work, illustrates its influence on social policy, and tracks its innovative and often revelatory explorations of the human condition. For decades, the Tavistock’s work has helped shape how we see ourselves, as persons and as a society. Much thinking that has entered the mainstream emerged from its challenging, interdisciplinary research and practice, and this book shows stage by stage how a self-questioning approach generates new knowledge, and how theory can be humanely applied.

-- Dame Hilary Mantel, Booker Prize winner, 2009 and 2012

Some institutions make their contribution not just by discharging duties or doing jobs, but by creating a culture. The impact of the Tavistock on our social assumptions, its impact on education, business, the understanding of the family, the life of the arts and, of course, therapy, demonstrates beyond any doubt that it has genuinely been a culturally defining presence. It has educated the listening and the noticing of generations; and in that sense has enlarged the personal and the social world for all of us. It is right that the hundred years of its remarkable life should be marked and celebrated in this welcome book.

-- Dr Rowan Williams, 104th Archbishop of Canterbury

The “Tavi” – a name that is instantly recognisable wherever people get together to reflect on what makes us tick as people, institutions, and society. This delightful mixture of homage and history is a witty and wise tribute to the first hundred years of a remarkable place.

-- Professor Sir Simon Wessely, Regius Chair of Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London

… a splendid publication that vividly portrays aspects of a remarkable institution’s history over the past 100 years. … It is such a highly enjoyable book that I read it end to end in one sitting, and since then I have repeatedly and selectively dipped into its forty-four chapters. … the editors and contributors have given us a brilliant and inspiring 2020 vision.

-- Andrew Briggs * International Journal of Infant Observation and Its Applications 23(3), 2020 *

This thought-provoking collection of essays […] is wide ranging in scope, with sections on social work, nursing, court work, publications, government policy and much more. […] Part history, part homage to a national institution […] There is hope and wisdom here from a multiplicity of voices […] This book is a tribute to the place that first put psychotherapy on the public agenda a century ago and has done so much to educate the way we listen and observe.

-- Jane Cooper, former senior counsellor at University of Cambridge – Therapy Today, March