Creating Love

John Bradshaw is a gifted popularizer and this New York Times bestseller reached a wide audience through its PBS tie-in, offering an accessible tour of how childhood shapes adult relationships. The split reception tells you something true about it — Kirkus found it shallow, Publishers Weekly found it profound, and bell hooks loved it. The inner-child framework now feels dated, and the four-step program is impressionistic rather than clinical. Worth reading if you're drawn to relational psychology, but know what you're getting.