In the Dream House


Book Description

A revolutionary memoir about domestic abuse by the award-winning author of Her Body and Other Parties In the Dream House is Carmen Maria Machado’s engrossing and wildly innovative account of a relationship gone bad, and a bold dissection of the mechanisms and cultural representations of psychological abuse. Tracing the full arc of a harrowing relationship with a charismatic but volatile woman, Machado struggles to make sense of how what happened to her shaped the person she was becoming. And it’s that struggle that gives the book its original structure: each chapter is driven by its own narrative trope—the haunted house, erotica, the bildungsroman—through which Machado holds the events up to the light and examines them from different angles. She looks back at her religious adolescence, unpacks the stereotype of lesbian relationships as safe and utopian, and widens the view with essayistic explorations of the history and reality of abuse in queer relationships. Machado’s dire narrative is leavened with her characteristic wit, playfulness, and openness to inquiry. She casts a critical eye over legal proceedings, fairy tales, Star Trek, and Disney villains, as well as iconic works of film and fiction. The result is a wrenching, riveting book that explodes our ideas about what a memoir can do and be.




No Visible Bruises


Book Description

WINNER OF THE HILLMAN PRIZE FOR BOOK JOURNALISM, THE HELEN BERNSTEIN BOOK AWARD, AND THE LUKAS WORK-IN-PROGRESS AWARD * A NEW YORK TIMES TOP 10 BOOKS OF THE YEAR * NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST * LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE FINALIST * ABA SILVER GAVEL AWARD FINALIST * KIRKUS PRIZE FINALIST NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2019 BY: Esquire, Amazon, Kirkus, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, BookPage, BookRiot, Economist, New York Times Staff Critics “A seminal and breathtaking account of why home is the most dangerous place to be a woman . . . A tour de force.” -Eve Ensler "Terrifying, courageous reportage from our internal war zone." -Andrew Solomon "Extraordinary." -New York Times ,“Editors' Choice” “Gut-wrenching, required reading.” -Esquire "Compulsively readable . . . It will save lives." -Washington Post “Essential, devastating reading.” -Cheryl Strayed, New York Times Book Review An award-winning journalist's intimate investigation of the true scope of domestic violence, revealing how the roots of America's most pressing social crises are buried in abuse that happens behind closed doors. We call it domestic violence. We call it private violence. Sometimes we call it intimate terrorism. But whatever we call it, we generally do not believe it has anything at all to do with us, despite the World Health Organization deeming it a “global epidemic.” In America, domestic violence accounts for 15 percent of all violent crime, and yet it remains locked in silence, even as its tendrils reach unseen into so many of our most pressing national issues, from our economy to our education system, from mass shootings to mass incarceration to #MeToo. We still have not taken the true measure of this problem. In No Visible Bruises, journalist Rachel Louise Snyder gives context for what we don't know we're seeing. She frames this urgent and immersive account of the scale of domestic violence in our country around key stories that explode the common myths-that if things were bad enough, victims would just leave; that a violent person cannot become nonviolent; that shelter is an adequate response; and most insidiously that violence inside the home is a private matter, sealed from the public sphere and disconnected from other forms of violence. Through the stories of victims, perpetrators, law enforcement, and reform movements from across the country, Snyder explores the real roots of private violence, its far-reaching consequences for society, and what it will take to truly address it.




The House of Abuse


Book Description

A woman is thinking of leaving her husband, who has abused her for the past five years of their marriage. This isn't the first time she has thoughts of leaving. Her children are frightened by their mother's cries and the bruises on her face. They don't know what will happen next. Violence in the home is still a hidden epidemic that is often misunderstood by those who have not been impacted by its wrath. They may wonder: "Why doesn't she just leave?" "Why do men abuse the women they love?" Mike McGrane's House of Abuse was created to help perpetrators of domestic violence examine their behaviors and, hopefully, end their abuse. This intervention exercise has been used in multiple settings with victims/survivors, clinicians, chemical dependency counselors, the military, high schools and colleges, and general audiences throughout the world to increase understanding of this complex issue. Drawing on the author's three decades of work with both perpetrators and victims/survivors, The House of Abuse: Understanding Violence in the Home describes each room in The House through the stories of the men and women who have lived there-and offers conclusions about what sorts of interventions can help bring peace to The House.




When Violence Begins at Home


Book Description

The author reflects her 17 years on the front lines working against domestic violence after surviving an abusive relationship herself. Karen Wilson provides a comprehensive manual for counselors, legal professionals, and victims of abuse, addressing behavioral patterns, the role of alcohol and drugs, how to leave abusive relationships, legislation on domestic violence, and more.




See What You Made Me Do


Book Description

Domestic abuse is a national emergency: one in four Australian women has experienced violence from a man she was intimate with. But too often we ask the wrong question: why didn’t she leave? We should be asking: why did he do it? Investigative journalist Jess Hill puts perpetrators – and the systems that enable them – in the spotlight. See What You Made Me Do is a deep dive into the abuse so many women and children experience – abuse that is often reinforced by the justice system they trust to protect them. Critically, it shows that we can drastically reduce domestic violence – not in generations to come, but today. Combining forensic research with riveting storytelling, See What You Made Me Do radically rethinks how to confront the national crisis of fear and abuse in our homes. ‘A shattering book: clear-headed and meticulous, driving always at the truth’—Helen Garner ‘One Australian a week is dying as a result of domestic abuse. If that was terrorism, we’d have armed guards on every corner.’ —Jimmy Barnes ‘Confronting in its honesty this book challenges you to keep reading no matter how uncomfortable it is to face the profound rawness of people’s stories. Such a well written book and so well researched. See What You Made Me Do sheds new light on this complex issue that affects so many of us.’—Rosie Batty




Coercive Control


Book Description

Drawing on cases, Stark identifies the problems with our current approach to domestic violence, outlines the components of coercive control, and then uses this alternate framework to analyse the cases of battered women charged with criminal offenses directed at their abusers.




Violent No More


Book Description

Violet no more outlines positive, straightforward steps that men can take to recognize and change their own abusive behovior.




In the House of Friends


Book Description

There is a place that promises acceptance, spiritual growth, and friendship, but instead delivers criticism, abuse, and exploitation. A place that declares marriages will be strengthened, treasured, and protected, but instead weakens, diminishes, and marginalizes them. A place that claims to obey the word of God, but in practice weaponizes the word against those who disagree or doubt. A place where the good news of a tenderhearted, loving Savior is blurred by leaders who are controlling, traumatizing, and self-serving. A place that calls loudly to the storm-tossed at sea, only to lure them to the rocks where they flounder and fall apart. A place that appeared to be a house of friendship but was a place of betrayal. That place might be a Christian church. It might be a cult. It is probably both. In the House of Friends: Understanding and Healing from Spiritual Abuse in the Christian Church is written for survivors of abusive churches, their families and friends, and all who want to understand spiritual abuse and help the abused. Dr. Garrett is a long-term pastor of a diverse, urban congregation and combines personal experience, sound academic research, and pastoral theology to address a poorly understood, rarely admitted problem today—spiritual abuse in Christian churches.




The House of Lies


Book Description

AS SEEN ON 60 MINUTES This compelling memoir of family secrets, murder, sexual assault and domestic violence is also the gripping story of Renee's constant struggle to accept the truth and her true identity, and, ultimately, to forge a life on her own terms. From the outside, Renee McBryde had a fairly typical childhood - school, working mum, swimming lessons with loving grandparents. But waiting for her was a secret so awful that it would rock her to the core. Renee's mother was a teenage runaway who found herself pregnant and alone when Renee's father was jailed for killing two men. When Renee discovered the truth, she knew her life would never be the same again. She was a murderer's daughter - but that made her determined to escape the past. This is her sometimes shocking, often moving, inspirational true story of terrible secrets and tragic lies, and a life of abuse, suffering and survival.




Time's Up


Book Description

Today there are more than five million women and their children are living in a violentrelationship, and this number is increasing as new technology from tracking devices on cell phonesto computer technology allow an abuser to track its' victims every move. Domestic violence and stalking related crimes are being dismissed in a flurry of shuffled divorcedocuments and court orders of protection. You cannot plead with an abuser and walk away frompotentially life threatening situations if you are unable to learn the steps necessary to protect yourself. In this straight forward, clearly written guidebook, veteran violence safety expert Susan MurphyMilano provides victims the tools and support they require to face this debilitating problem andtake the necessary steps to regain control of their lives. Victims and those going through divorce now are able to provide information, in their own words, about the fears, dangers, experiences they have had at the hands of their abuser. Like our own individual fingerprints, no two crimes against a victim are the same. An abuser isclever like a fox and this book will teach you the techniques to be ten steps ahead before a threatagainst your life can be carried out against you or your children. With the Evidentiary Abuse affidavit provided in this book a victim will be able to provide legaldocumentation and answers, allegations and fears that arise when a person has disappeared whenthey announce the relationship is ending, gone missing or have been found dead. You will be ableto properly document and describe: -Threats made against your life or well being, -Incidents of past abuse that a victim had endured -Admissions of how a threat will be carried out against a victim once they announce they are leaving or filing for a divorce -Where evidence or weapons would or could be located -Portray visible injuries or marks -Determine how to begin and continue through the complex maze a victim faces with policeand prosecutors-How to leave a Perpetrator-How to collect evidence "on the fly" How to begin and continue on the road to safety using a virtual toolbox of techniques How family and friends can be crucial in this process Using the creative approaches developed in this ground breaking guide book by Susan Murphy-Milano will take the victims from the State of being controlled to the "State of being in control." Susan is the author of Defending Our Lives, Getting From Domestic Violence and Staying Safeand Moving Out Moving On when a Relationship Goes Wrong Workbook. "There is nothing like this out there. The reason this book is so valuable is that it's the first book to provide step-by step procedures and structure to protect everyone from dangerous and abusive relationships" -Rev. Jennifer Burns Lewis, Pastor