"Heehs undertakes the challenging task of summarizing the history of the concepts of self and self-consciousness, as well as a history of self-expression as seen in first-person accounts.His thinking on the subtle distinctions in recent demarcations of a self should attract many readers." Frederick M. Smith, University of Iowa, Religious Studies Review "This concise yet comprehensive work by Heehs (independent scholar) fills a large niche in the literature on the nature and history of self. It offers an account of the self over the last two millennia, thereby capturing fully the idea that the self 'has changed from a ghostly spirit to a substantial soul to an autonomous individual to a center of expression to a fiction constructed by social or biological forces.' By deliberately including non-Western traditions regarding selfhood, this volume also broadens the scope of more typical discussions regarding self. In moving beyond standard Anglo-American and Continental approaches, Heehs ensures a rich future for selfhood scholarship. He clearly frames the idea that the traditional Western view of self is rather peculiar: "people living in traditional cultures in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Australasia--virtually everywhere except Europe and North America--don't see the self" as understood by leading Western accounts thereof.

In addition to this provocative discussion, the book highlights the significance of diaries and memoirs in the development of a veridical account of the diverse nature of self, and offers ample, carefully selected quotations from key thinkers throughout the history of the development of self. Excellent notes, bibliography, and index. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above; general readers." H. Storl, Augustana College (IL).