The Empathy Exams

About The Empathy Exams

Leslie Jamison's The Empathy Exams (2014) is a debut essay collection investigating the nature of empathy, pain, and their representation, ranging from her experience as a medical actor hired to perform symptoms for medical students to essays on Morgellons disease, the Barkley Marathons ultra-endurance race, the West Memphis Three, and her own experiences with abortion, heart surgery, and alcoholism. Winner of the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize, the collection became one of the defining essay collections of the 2010s and established Jamison as a major voice in American nonfiction.