Intimate Violence against Women

Paula K. Lundberg-Love is the Ben R. Fisch Endowed Professor of Humanitarian Affairs, and Professor of Psychology, at the University of Texas. She is also a Licensed Professional Counselor at the Tyler Counseling and Assessment Center, where she has provided therapeutic services for child and adult victims of sexual assault and domestic violence for 20 years.Shelly Marmion is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas. She has been a Senior Research Fellow, publishing articles and reports on vulnerable populations including the elderly, deaf and blind, and the visually impaired. She is an award-winning teacher including for graduate and undergraduate classes.

Lundberg-Love and Marmion have gathered a set of essays about many aspects of what happens, and how friends, family, and professionals can respond, when spouses, partners, or lovers attack. The volume strikes a remarkable balance between pragmatism and technical expertise, between political savvy and comforting reassurance. Individual essays are detailed and informative, and the contributors take pains not to overwhelm the reader. The message throughout is that battering, rape, and other physical, sexual, and emotional abuse are widespread, consequential, survivable, and preventable. Feminist critics of the Bush administration's tepid cultural, policy, and legal responses to violence against women will find useful evidence and commentary in this informative, accessible book. Some of it is elegantly simple; the editors do important critical work just by putting scare quotes around the word intimate in the title. Especially important are clear, up-to-date chapters on class and culture and on violence against women as a global phenomenon. The editors provide a useful preface and present practical information in a series of appendixes. Highly recommended. Lower-/upper-division undergraduates; students in technical programs; professionals; general readers.