These works were written against a background of war and racism. Freud sought th
e sources of conflict in the deepest memories of humankind, finding clear contin
uities between our 'primitive' past and 'civilized' modernity. In "Totem and Tab
oo", he explores institutions of tribal life, tracing analogies between the rite
s of hunter-gatherers and the obsessions of urban-dwellers, while "Mourning and
Melancholia" sees a similarly self-destructive savagery underlying individual li
fe in the modern age, which issues at times in self-harm and suicide.
