Customer Reviews

Bearing Witness: Violence and Collective Responsibility

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Having just come from a conference given by Dr. Bloom I can whole heartedly say that this is one book every counselor, teacher, youth worker or simply anyone interested in bettering society should read. I have found the techniques presented here exceedingly helpful to my own work as a counselor/advocate of youth. Truama theory is a fascinating way to address what is really happening to people I see every day. The perspectives presented in this book, if heeded, just may help us down the path towards a safer society we so deperately need to go in the world and the U.S. more directly. Please, read this book and also Creating Sanctuary by Dr. Bloom and watch as your thoughts expand to see the world through the eyes of the victim.

This book is older and the numbers and statistics of different violent acts shows it. It is very one sided in it's opinions and statistics/data/information. For example, it has a section on Domestic Violence, but it mentions NOTHING about men who are victims of DV, only the numbers for women when actually the numbers for male victims are just as high. It is all about the victim and does not talk about the responsibility of all parties involved. Another example: Victims of murder - it talks about drug murders. However, those people were breaking the law. Not to say that killing them was right, however, the victim put himself/herself in that position. All around this book is not a book that unbiasedly looks at violence. It is biased to the "victim" and does NOT take into account all of the types of victims that are out there. I would not recommend this book unless you are willing to allow responsibility to be brushed off onto society and are willing to accept that it is somehow your fault.