Fritz Perls described himself as a “mediocre psychoanalyst” who became “the possible creator of a ‘new’ method of treatment”—Gestalt Therapy. His wife described him as half prophet, half bum. Dave Rybeck, reviewing FRITZ in Psychology Today, said that “Martin Shepard has done an excellent job of getting into, on top of, and under the Fritz Perls mystique. He spent two years learning all he could about Perls’s life and has produced a masterful yet loving portrait that goes far beyond biography. FRITZ offers a Fritz Perls to whom few, if any, were privy. This holistic view of Fritz, his early falterings, his neurotic rootlessness, his prima donna pettiness, his chronic self-doubts and, above all, his driving destiny to become a great master in the world of psychotherapy, reveals a human, lovable person. It leaves me feeling glad that Fritz did his thing. And that Martin Shepard did his, too.”
