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In this personable distillation of Heinz Kohut's life's work, Allen Siegel attempts “to convey the evolution of Kohut's ideas so that students of psychoanalytic psychotherapy can benefit from his erudition” (p. 192). He takes the reader through a chronological tour of Kohut's main writings, and does so with such conspicuous clarity that his fingerprints can rarely be found smudging the image of Kohut's thought. In fact, with the exception of a short concluding chapter and several excellent clinical examples of his own that clearly illustrate the value of Kohut's work for the practice of psychodynamic psychotherapy, Siegel's voice is rarely present. The book also includes a lively biographical chapter written by Ernest Wolf. While I found myself wanting to hear a bit more from Siegel himself, especially additional examples of how he has used Kohut's psychoanalytic writing in his psychotherapy practice, the author is to be commended for the clarity of his exposition throughout the work.
The book is not specifically intended for psychoanalysts, and while it may have a place in the early stages of a psychoanalytic curriculum, it is expressly intended for other mental health professionals and for students with an interest in psychodynamic thought. In addition to presenting “Kohut's ideas in a clear and understandable way so that psychotherapists of all inclinations can use his conceptualizations to inform their work” (p. 2), Siegel wants to stimulate his audience “to