Social Work Books

Insult to Injury by Linda G. Mills, (2003) I am glad this book was written, since if nothing else it is sparking some controversy which may help bring about better research and treatment for domestic violence families. As an ER social worker and a social worker for the family courts, I have seen a lot of domestic violence cases, but I have by no means seen them all, and there is quite a range in their presentation. I read this book with hopes that it would give me a better handle on what other social workers are experiencing with domestic violence cases. I also hoped that Mills' book would offer a sense of direction for social work as it attempts to collaborate with criminal justice in rehabilitating batterers and victims of battery.

The book has a fairly extensive review of the research on domestic violence woven throughout. Much of the research cited points out that women are aggressive, that women are frequently batterers who fight back in the actual fisticuffs of DV, and that mandatory arrest laws are ineffective. In fact, some of the research indicates that mandatory arrests may increase the likelihood that an African-American batterer will be arrested for another act of domestic violence, while there are substantially fewer repeat arrests of Caucasian men.

Considering how underfunded and undervalued I have found work with domestic violence to be, I tended to feel somewhat jaded about the realistic possibility of some of Mills' ideas, such as her idea of an Intimate Abuse Assessment Team which would determine the lethality of a domestic violence couple. I don't know about this -- think of the liability nightmares. But Mills is essentially making a strong argument for more intervention in domestic violence families -- for people (family, friends, and professionals) to look at the abuse rather than away from it -- and on this point she has my wholehearted agreement.

Linda Mills ends the book by talking about her own experience as a partner in an intimate abuse relationship. This was, of course, the juiciest part of the book, and I highly recommend it as a lesson for social workers in someone willing to take a good, hard look at the woundedness of herself as a healer. For this, Linda Mills deserves praise. There are few among us who are courageous enough to make this level of self-disclosure. Linda Mills accepts responsibility for her own faults, and by this gesture, she serves as a role model for social workers (both healers and afflicted). Let's hope she keeps working to help domestic violence social work sort itself out.

Every Drop for Sale: Our Desperate Battle Over Water in a World About to Run Out by Jeffrey Rothfeder (2001) The impending world water crisis is not a subject I like to think too much about, but as a social worker, I feel compelled to call attention to it. Plus this book makes the subject understandable, and asks a tremendously important question: should countries buy and sell water, or should water's original positions in the world (Canada has the most, and the Middle East very little) be respected? There is a Canadian movement partially influenced by the Inuit Indians (the Eskimos) which maintains that water should not be sold and moved around the planet in huge bags -- that this goes against the natural ecology of the earth, and will mess things up even worse. Draining certain areas for water use and development has certainly proven disastrous for Florida, which now must invest 8 million dollars to restore the Everglades to some semblance of their original swamp glory.

Rothfeder documents meticulously the many freshwater rivers in the world that are being managed to depletion. He describes areas that are ripe for conflict over the issue, including Malaysia, Singapore, and many of the nations of the Middle East. He also delves into some of the water conflicts going on in the United States. Who knew that Atlanta's burgeoning population was sucking the Chattahoochee dry before it got to Florida? This stuff doesn't make it big in the mainstream media, even though water is so essential. By the way, this makes me wonder about fuel cells producing water as their waste product. Could we someday be collecting the runoff from our cars, harnessing this source of water for other purposes? Seems a little unlikely, but you never know.

Forgiving the Devil: Coming to Terms with Damaged Relationships by Terry Hargrave, Ph.D (2001) This is a remarkable book for a number of reasons, the first and foremost being that the author is a therapist who shares his personal experience of being abused as a child and how he confronted his parents as an adult and salvaged his relationship with them. Another remarkable aspect of the author's work is his willingness to admit to his own abusive tendencies, something that is rare indeed in the world of Ph.D's. This combination of insight and humility makes this book on forgiveness much more compelling and believable than the average self-help blather. Hargrave gives the devil his due, so to speak, and does not pretend that the work of forgiveness is easy or even, in all circumstances, possible. In simple, straightforward prose, the book offers words for how people experience their unhappy childhoods, such as when Hargrave writes, "It is a curse to never know why your family did not find it easy or irresistible to love you." The book helps clear a path through the cursed quagmire of painful childhood memories, outlining "Four Stations of Forgiveness." Hargrave offers his own experience in confronting his mother about a horrifying episode of abuse from his childhood, to show how knowing his mother's motives for her abusive behavior (she was trying to scare him, not hurt him) helped him understand what the abuse was about in a larger context. I would recommend this book to anyone who feels that they are recovering from damaged relationships, which means I would recommend it to 95% of the people I know. Even if you cannot forgive, this is an insightful exploration on the subject, and an opportunity to learn about how one person did.

What's Happening to Home : Balancing Work, Life, and Refuge in the Information Age by Maggie Jackson. (2002) I was going to write a review of Fred & Edie first, since this has been my goal for the past few days, but that notebook got left downstairs on the kitchen table and now Katrina is downstairs with our baby-sitter, and I don't want to intrude, which illustrates the kind of conundrum Maggie Jackson is talking about in What's Happening to Home? Balancing Work, Life, and Refuge in the Information Age. I have to say that while technology has influenced my life more over the past year than ever before, I don't think I'm in danger of becoming a technophile, and I still feel like I have a place of refuge from the world. But the book certainly makes a number of good observations about the ways people are choosing to live in the modern world where technology is seeping into every crevice and corner. Here are some of the trends Jackson sees resulting from our new work/home hybrids:

• Time logged in at home is now viewable at work, making one's time at home less private.
• Silence in no longer valued in public places as it once was. Instead we have begun to allow advertisers to jabber at us as we pump gas and ride elevators.
• Office furniture and design is being domesticated and feminized because of our desire for the workplace to be more homey.
• We are growing accustomed to carrying on our private lives on cell phones in grocery stores, airports, restaurants, and doctor's offices.

Jackson makes several other salient points, like how many people fail to notice the seasons changing because work concerns are so pervasive and technology so invasive. Jackson sees herself as a former home/work separator who is now able to "cross and re-cross the divide between home and work less fearfully and with more assurance." That sounds good and for those of us who are able to be this flexible, yahoo. But for others, and for those who cannot let go of work in particular, the home/work boundaries can blur into a life devoid of intimacy and prone to lots of professional wandering.

One in Thirteen: The Silent Epidemic of Teen Suicide by Jessica Portner, with foreword by Dr. William S. Pollack. (2001) For social workers like me who deal with the real crisis of youth suicide, and for the families and extended families who want to know what they can do to help, this is a strong (and, thankfully, brief) book. The author makes recommendations for more effective gun control as a basic method of prevention, but she emphasizes that lasting solutions must go much deeper. Portner argues for a society which will make a sustained effort to decrease child abuse and family violence, increase time spent nurturing children, and increase community participation of some kind. She also makes more specific recommendations for how schools, friends, and family can help a person who is nearing a suicidal crisis.

This Social Work Webring site owned by Kiersten Marek. Previous 10 | Skip prev | Previous| Next| Skip next | Next 10 Random Site | List Sites | Join

Privacy Statement • Mission Statement • Contact • Home Copyright © Kiersten Marek, MSW, LICSW, 2002-2004.