In his Introduction Ablon describes the book as the outcome of five years of fortnightly sessions of a multidisciplinary team, the Harvard Affect Study Group. The book is well edited for a unity of style despite 14 authors and, in essence, 18 papers and is helpfully organized in specific section. A reviewer with but 1500 words at his disposal can only outline the book's papers, pausing briefly just where he has particular experience.

The first section deals with theory, introduced by Brown's paper on developmental sequences of affect maturation. It is around this chapter that the book is organized, later papers often illustrating