Dear Journalist: George Bush, influenced by "groupthink," and Saddam Hussein, known for his paranoid and violent tendencies, led their nations into the Persian Gulf War. Bush had a privileged childhood, Hussein knew abuse as a child. Did these vastly different psychological paths lead the two men to war? In his new book, "Uncovering Lives: The Uneasy Alliance of Biography and Psychology" (Oxford University Press), Alan Elms, a University of California, Davis, psychology professor, examines the psychobiographies of Bush, Hussein and more than a dozen other prominent figures, including Sigmund Freud, Isaac Asimov, L. Frank Baum, Henry Kissinger and Vladimir Nabokov. Along the way he reveals such psychological relationships as the one that existed between the weak males and strong females of "The Wizard of Oz" and Baum's childhood heart disease, which kept him from strenuous activities, and his relationship with his mother-in-law, a distinguished women's rights advocate. Psychobiography, Elms explains, is pretty much what it says: biography that makes substantial use of psychological theory and knowledge. Throughout his book, Elms shows how psychology can make important contributions to biography and how biography can contribute significantly to the further development of psychology. The book already has prompted critical attention, including a review in the New York Times Book Review. Reviewer Perry Meisel highlights Elms' chapter on B.F. Skinner, noting that Elms "not only provides intriguing biographical information . . . he also gives a fascinating account of the psychological issues at work in Skinner's life and career." Kirkus Reviews praises Elms this way: "After explaining the principles of good biography, Elms practices what he has preached . . .The most convincing application concerns Jimmy Carter; with the benefit of 18 years' hindsight, Elms re-evaluates the analysis he made nine days before the 1976 presidential election. He was especially prescient in evaluating Carter's faith: While other biographers worried about whether a born-again Christian would turn a secular government into a revival meeting, Elms understood that Carter should not be defined solely by his religious beliefs." The review concludes that, "Uncovering Lives" is "one of the best books ever written about biography, psycho-or otherwise." If you would like to interview the author or if you would like a review copy of the book, contact me at (916) 752-9841 or through e-mail, at lrklionsky@ucdavis.edu. If I can be of further help to you on other stories, please let me know. Sincerely, Lisa Crumrine Klionsky UC Davis News Service