How the concept of narcissism came into being: from Ellis and Näcke to Sadger and Freud --
Abraham's discovery of the "bad mother": a contribution to the history of the theory of depression --
From anger to reflection: remarks on Freud's commentary on an early paper by Karl Abraham (1907) --
Karl Abraham's revolution of 1916: from sensual sucking to the oral-aggressive wish of destruction --
Towards Karl Abraham's "A Short Study of the Development of the Libido" (1924): August Stärcke's contribution to the theory of orality --
On the early history of anal erotism (1905-1924) --
Thinking up the death drive: remarks on Freud's research projects, his ambitions, and his vision of the primacy of sexuality --
Fourteen hundred hours of analysis with Freud: Viktor von Dirsztay --
Freud's patient record books (1910-1920): on the duration and frequency of thirty-six of Freud's analyses.

Presenting a new frame of reference, the author argues that Freud's theories are not the result of his genius alone but were developed in exchange with colleagues and students, which is not always apparent at first glance. Replete with examples, the author reconstructs who the theories were addressed to and the discursive context they originally belonged to, thus presenting fresh and surprising readings of Freud's oeuvre. The book also offers a glimpse into Freud's practice. For the first time, Freud's patient record books which he kept for ten years, are being reviewed, offering readers the hard facts about the length and frequency of Freud's analyses.