A favorite book on the period is "Thunder at Twilight: Vienna 1913/1914" by Frederic Morton. Freud's city was one of the centers of Europe's neuroses. It was also a center of political ferment under the lid weighted down by the Hapsburg monarchy.

Notably, Hitler, Stalin, Trotsky, and Tito were all there at the same time.

Freud was also a coke head. Even though he ended up supposedly quitting, he was a fervent supporter and advocate for its use for a very long time, and we know what and how cocaine alters people’s minds and personalities and character permanently even beyond that of any addict.