Violence: Reflections on a National Epidemic
By:
James Gilligan
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List Price: $15.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Description:
Drawing on firsthand experience as a prison psychiatrist, his own family history, and literature, Gilligan unveils the motives of men who commit horrifying crimes, men who will not only kill others but destroy themselves rather than suffer a loss of self-respect. With devastating clarity, Gilligan traces the role that shame plays in the etiology of murder and explains why our present penal system only exacerbates it. Brilliantly argued, harrowing in its portraits of the walking dead, Violence should be read by anyone concerned with this national epidemic and its widespread consequences.
"Extraordinary. Gilligan's recommendations concerning what does work to prevent violence...are extremely convincing...A wise and careful, enormously instructive book."--Owen Renik, M.D., editor, Psychoanalytic Quarterly
Publisher: Vintage
Release Date: 1997-04-29
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
This is not psychological theory but practice - The U.S. has the most shameful high rate statistics in violence regarding rich industrialies including Japan and western nations, wether murder or rape. Two million plus incarcerated. Why? Psychiatrist for twenty five years for the "worst of the worst" - serial rapist, multiple killers, impulsive killers and others inmates, Harvard medical school former director for the center for the study of violence, Dr. Gilligan, give a valuable psychoanalitic tool to understand why.
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
highly recommended - This book helped me a lot in my thinking about a death threat that a young man directed at me. I was so frightened by this event that I was diagnosed with PTSD, and the symptoms have continued 18 months after the threat. When the Virginia Tech shootings happened, I found myself thinking obsessively about young men and violence: what causes young men to do these things? This book answered my questions in a way that has finally enabled me to get some closure on my own traumatic experience.
Gilligan traces violence to overwhelming shame, which he in turn traces back to multiple causes: poverty, poor self esteem, assymmetrical gender roles, and child abuse and neglect. It's a complicated argument, but it boils down to this: young men whose self-esteem is poor for whatever reason find themselves unable to shrug off sometimes very trivial insults to their honor and self-respect and dignity, and they feel there is no way to regain it except through physical violence. Gilligan also believes that underlying this shame, there is often a deep wish to be dependent and cared for as if one were a child, but that wish is itself shaming. Violent men often re-offend in order to be re-admitted to prison, where they are taken care of, and this way they get their dependency needs met while also appearing mean, tough, and macho.
All of this rings true in my experiences with violent young men. There may not be much we can do about the young men who are already so damaged that they must be quarantined to protect other people from their violence, but knowing what Gilligan knows can help us stop creating more of these destructive men. The United States has more of them proportionally than any other developed country, and Gilligan is eloquent on the causes for our epidemic of violence.
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Best theory of violence I've encountered - I teach classes on the sociology of violence and have recently started assigning this book. Although Gilligan is a psychiatrist and not a sociologist, he offers a sociological understanding of the problem of violence. His arguments are convincing, and his writing is accessible to college students. I disagree with the previous reviewer that the book is poorly edited and poorly written. Gilligan is an excellent writer. His book targets a general readership, but he does not insult an academic audience.
I would have liked more than a few pages on what we can do about the problems he outlines. But the book is a great starting point. I consider it a "must-read" for anyone studying the problem of violence.
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Insightful - This book is insightful and dead-on in its accuracy in pinpointing the sources of violence in our country. We wonder why ours is the most violent in spite of all our freedom and wealth...Gilligan makes it painfully clear. He was not afraid to point fingers at those in power, including the government, and he offered logical solutions to the problem. I highly recommend this read (although I do agree with another reviewer that parts are redundant...i skimmed through to get to the rest that was well worth it).
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Excelent! - I'm very happy with my purchase, because the book came to me in perfect conditions and very fast. Thanks!
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