The preface notes that psychopathy was the first personality disorder to be recognized in psychiatry and that it is now called antisocial personality disorder in the diagnostic manual DSM-IV. The most characteristic traits in psychopaths are their superficial charm, egocentricity, incapacity for love, guiltlessness, lack of remorse and shame, lack of insight, and failure to learn from experience. The concept is still a controversial issue among clinicians and researchers, but the concept has demonstrated reliability, descriptive validity, and usefulness in clinical, correctional, and forensic settings. The current DSM classification of psychopaths probably puts too much emphasis on criminal behavior, but noncriminal psychopaths may be equally exploitative, deceptive, and irresponsible. Individual chapters examine historical conceptions of psychopathy in the United States and Europe, the contribution of personality to violence, the internal world of the psychopath, and the antisocial personality in forensic settings. Additional chapters discuss 10 subtypes of psychopathy, a 5-factor model of personality and its relationship to psychopathy, and the implications of psychopathy for the mental health and criminal justice systems. Further chapters discuss the roles of genetics, neurobiology, organic dysfunction, culture, and biopsychosocial factors. Other chapters discuss comorbidity with other mental disorders, pedophilia, alcoholism, drug addiction, and the sadistic personality in murderers. Other papers focuses on the use of prescription drugs, psychotherapeutic treatment techniques, a group-analytic approach to psychopaths, therapeutic community treatment, the management of dangerous psychopaths in prison, and past and current treatment in Denmark. Figures, tables, chapter reference lists, and index