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This book is a new collection of Winnicott's writings, containing some papers and letters that have not hitherto been published, some that are uncollected and therefore not easily accessible, and some that are familiar and readily available, all on the related themes of deprivation and delinquency. They cover a long time-span, between 1939, (when Winnicott first became interested and involved in the problem of wartime evacuation of small children, hence the link between deprivation and the antisocial tendency) to 1970, only months before his death (when addressing the Association of Workers for Maladjusted Children on “Residential Care as Therapy”).
The book is divided into three main sections, with a short fourth dealing with psychotherapeutic interactions with antisocial children. The first part deals with what Winnicott made of his wartime experiences, many of the papers being in fact broadcasts to ordinary parents and foster parents of evacuated children. This section is outstanding for his facility in conveying complex and sometimes painful emotional realities to non-professionals in a way that is never patronising and yet feels as if it must have brought considerable advances in understanding to those caught up in the domestic upheavals of the time. He brings Bowlby's work on early separation into the context of what was then everyday experience, and puts it to very good use in his own words on evacuation and the return therefrom. The respect and value that he accords ordinary, good-enough parenting and his emphasis on the importance of the child's own home, however rich or poor, must have made his message accessible and comforting to many a troubled mother and father. One cannot help admiring the complete absence of professional arrogance, unnecessary jargon or judgemental attitudes. He achieves a blend of psychoanalytical understanding, tough common sense and great humanity that impresses one throughout the volume.
The second part of the book explains Winnicot