If a measure of our humanity is how we treat the most vulnerable, our report card is bleak. Our politics is divided, people in need are too often treated with cruelty, and the systems we built to support others are creaking. Welfare too often fails, sometimes with tragic consequences.

Yet, the help we give to others can be more effective, more accepted, and more just if we cultivate greater levels of compassion to put it at the heart of public life and potentially resolve these challenges. In this book, Jason Wood reviews the research and talks to experts from across the world to make the moving case for greater compassion in public life.

Dr Jason Wood is a trained youth worker and academic and has spent over two decades teaching, researching, and campaigning on social justice issues. He is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and an Associate Professor of Social Policy at the University of Nottingham Malaysia.