The editors and contributors demonstrate that Winnicott's thought contains underappreciated political insights, discoverable in his reflections on the nature of the maturational process, and useful in working through difficult impasses confronting contemporary political theorists.

Chapter 1: IntroductionMatthew H. Bowker and Amy BuzbyPart I: The Subject's Creation: Aggression, Isolation, and DestructionChapter 2: Being and Encountering: Movement and Aggression in WinnicottJeremy ElkinsChapter 3: The Isolation of the True Self and the Problem of Impingement: Implications of Winnicott's Theory for Social Connection and Political EngagementDavid P. LevineChapter 4: The Psychoanalytic Winnicott We Need Now: On the Way to a Real Ecological ThoughtMelissa A. OrliePart II: The Subject Faced with Deprivation and DisasterChapter 5: Playing `Riot': Identity in Refuge - Absent Child Narratives in the 2013 Hindu Muslim Riots in Muzaffarnagar, IndiaZehra MehdiChapter 6: Safety in Danger and Privacy in Privation: Ambivalent Fantasies of Natural States Invoked in Reaction to LossMatthew H. Bowker Chapter 7: `Out Like a Lion': Melancholia with Euripides and WinnicottBonnie HonigChapter 8: Forgiveness and Transitional ExperienceC. Fred AlfordPart III: Revitalizing the Subject of Political TheoryChapter 9: In Transition, but to where?: Winnicott, Integration, and Democratic Associations David W. McIvorChapter 10: Vanquishing the False Self: Winnicott, Critical Theory and the Restoration of the Spontaneous GestureAmy BuzbyChapter 11: Adults in the Playground: Winnicott and Arendt on Politics and PlayfulnessJohn LeJeunePart IV: Inter-Subjectivity, Justice, and Equality Chapter 12: D.W. Winnicott, Ethics, and Race: Psychoanalytic Thought and Racial Equality in the United StatesAlex ZamalinChapter 13: Winnicott at Work: Potential Space and the Facilitating OrganizationMichael A. DiamondChapter 14: Winnicott and the History of Welfare State Thought in BritainGal GersonChapter 15: Vulnerability, Dependence, Sovereignty, and Ego-Distortion Theory: Psycho-Analyzing Political Behaviors in the Developing WorldRobert C. Chalwell

"True scholarship must encompass the rediscovery of sorely neglected sources of valuable knowledge. Bowker and Buzby and their likewise excellent contributors do us a great service in bringing Winnicott's profound psychoanalytic wisdom back into the fray of political theory, front and un-decentered. I couldn't recommend this stimulating and provocative volume too highly." (Kurt Jacobsen, University of Chicago, USA and author of "Freud's Foes and of Pacification and Its Discontents") "The shared premise of this book is illustrated with admirable deftness, theoretical sophistication, and lucidity across a wide spectrum of themes. The result is a volume which, in its totality, is much more than the sum of its parts. Anyone interested in the potential of free, humane subjectivity, and in the critique of anti-humanism, will find it deeply rewarding." (David N. Smith, Professor and Chair of Sociology, University of Kansas, USA) "This book is a fine volume of uncommon depth and reach. A clinician rather than a political thinker, Winnicott's work nevertheless emerges as a significant resource for our understanding of political agency and what a good society might be. Readers already persuaded of that fact will find their thinking taken in new and surprising directions. Those unfamiliar with Winnicott's ideas will find many reasons to take seriously his relevance to political thought and to matters of pressing political concern." (Peter Redman, Editor of "Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society")