What does it mean to understand mental and social phenomena from within? What, in other words, does it mean to approach such phenomena with empathy? Susan Lanzoni's Empathy: A History explores the many and varied attempts to answer that question. The attempts, Lanzoni argues, have animated and continue to animate key developments in psychological science, counseling, social work, and psychotherapy, including psychoanalysis.

Lanzoni's book is a detailed lexicographic study, tracking the meanings and usages of empathy across multiple disciplines and several decades. By charting the appearance, definition, and application of the term, it provides at the same time a history of professional and academic practices within psychology in particular and the social sciences in general. Further, the author moves beyond an institutional history to consider the shifting