Violence: Reflections on a National Epidemic

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

Author: James Gilligan
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 04/29/1997
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.54lbs
Size: 8.01h x 5.21w x 0.67d
ISBN13: 9780679779124
ISBN10: 0679779124
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Sociology | General
- Social Science | Criminology
- Social Science | Violence in Society

About the Author
James Gilligan, M.D., directed the Center for the Study of Violence at Harvard Medical School. He is the former medical director of the Bridgewater State Hospital for the Massachusetts prison system.