In this book, David Bell explores Freud's oeuvre. Starting with some of the earliest papers, he situates the evolution of Freud’s concepts in relation to psychoanalysis and more broadly, placing it within the context of culture and the history of ideas. Chapters cover such key topics as narcissism, the nature of truth and illusion, and what constitutes knowledge within and outside psychoanalytic settings. Each chapter takes one of Freud's key papers, providing both an exegesis of that work and then considering it in the context of contemporary psychoanalytic thinking and in culture more broadly.

This is key reading for psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, historians of ideas, and anyone wanting to better understand the continued importance of Freud’s enduring significance.

David Bell, is a training analyst and a former president of the British Psychoanalytic Society. He spent twenty-five years as a consultant psychiatrist at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust where he founded and led a new service for patients with long-standing serious psychological disorders.