From Publishers Weekly
This eloquent, moving forum grew out of the letters Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Richard Rhodes received in response to his 1990 memoir, A Hole in the World, his account of surviving childhood abuse inflicted by his stepmother. He and his wife here present interviews with 18 abuse survivors, augmented by childhood photographs on the scarring effects of incest, family violence, neglect, silence and denial. Many of these people were victims of sexual molestation; others endured sadistic punishment, repeated beatings, verbal assaults. The abuser was just as often a mother or a father as it was a stepparent. Some survived by taking charge of as much of their lives as they could claim; others kept their sanity through nurturing fantasies, creative play or writing. They searchingly discuss the daily coping with their childhood traumas' lasting effects: suicidal impulses, self-destructiveness, emotional armoring, bad choices of partners, addictions. Their stories radiate inner strength, courage and mature insight.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Very different from each other in content and in style, these two good books offer complementary approaches to an issue much in the news these days: child abuse in its physical, sexual, psychological, and spiritual incarnations. Richard Rhodes, himself a survivor of childhood abuse by a stepmother, with his wife, Ginger, present their interviews with some 20 other survivors of childhood abuse organized in 15 chapters with titles such as "Murder of the Body or the Soul," "It Affects You All Your Life," and "What Do Normal People Do?" Through these clear texts, we learn what abuse is from the very people who suffered it and how they surmounted the horrors. Rushford, a nurse and counselor who has worked with abused children and researched and written on the subject, presents us with a manual on preventing and dealing with child abuse. Besides carefully defining what abuse is, she outlines how children develop so that parents may have appropriate expectations. Rushford also gives advice on effective discipline and on how to deal with a difficult child. In a limited way, Rushford includes her Christian faith as part of her approach. These books should prove helpful to all who are touched by the problem of child abuse and who want children to be and feel valued: counselors, teachers, parents who want to avoid repeating abuse they may have experienced, and many others.?John Moryl, Yeshiva Univ. Lib., New York
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
