This interesting survey of a complex subject is divided into three sections. The first is a historical chapter in which Slakter cites a number of major contributions, emphasizing the shift from the early view of countertransference as interferences with analyzing that stem from the analyst's unconscious difficulties, to a broader, current conceptualization that regards it as a term denoting "all those reactions of the analyst to the patient that may help or hinder treatment" (p. 3). Slakter suggests that the emergence of what he calls an interactional view of the psychoanalytic process is the major factor behind the revision of the way countertransference is regarded. He also makes it quite evident that he considers this evolution as a favorable development for the practice of analysis.

The second section contains eight remarkably varied papers on