Choice 评论

Parrot and Cummings (Cornell Univ.) synthesize the activist-research literature on violence against women around the world. Their goal is to provide readers with a global perspective on the widespread, variable, yet commonplace brutalization of women, in order to "more fully comprehend the social and structural institutions that forsake women and fail to provide for them." The book is deeply rooted in examples from around the world, and the authors balance statistics with first-person accounts, focusing simultaneously on variation and specificity in women's lives. Parrot and Cummings present violence against women in the context of families and broader social, economic, and cultural dynamics that drive and shape it. They also close most chapters with a section on "promising practices." As an introduction to the stark reality of violence against women, this book fills a very important gap in the offerings on policy, health, patriarchal power and control, and international perspectives on gender relations. The text could have been more carefully copyedited, connections between argument and evidence more carefully made, and citations to the growing research literature more consistent, but this book deserves an audience throughout the English-speaking world. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. All academic levels/libraries. L. D. Brush University of Pittsburgh