Description
Book SynopsisA deeply moving book, filled with stories of mothers who have committed the ultimate crime
Trade Review"Oberman and Meyer’s investigation of the convicted womens traumatic personal histories offers readers an opportunity to separate the women who command our pity from their crimes." * The Chronicle of Higher Education *
"Those working in social services could benefit from reading this book. Perhaps teaching women about abuse early in their lives or providing them with more domestic abuse resources can help prevent future such cases." * Library Journal *
"From abortion laws to health care access, she (Oberman) said the social conditions that drive a mother to kill are too complicated to quantify." * Newsday *
"The authors do not present this abuse as an excuse for their behavior. Rather, they show how the abuse fits into a larger picture of isolation and limited prospects for a better life. Readers come away with a clear sense of how little these women had in the way of social support that might have helped them cope with the demands of motherhood, and are left to ponder the culpability of those who were in a position to provide this social support, but did not." * Choice *
"This is the first book that analyzes the subjective perceptions of incarcerated mothers convicted of killing their children. It provides an extraordinarily insightful humanizing view of how these pariahs adapt to prison and make sense of their crimes." -- Phillip J. Resnick, M.D.,Case Western Reserve University
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction I The Stories * 1 The Saddest Stories * 2 "She's the World to Me": The Mother-Daughter Relationships Described by Mothers Who Committed Filicide * 3 Fighting for Love: Filicidal Mothers and Their Male Partners * 4 Mothering: Hopes, Expectations, and Realities * 5 Punishment, Shame, and Guilt II Making Sense of the Stories * 6 Interactions with the State: Holes in the Safety Nets * 7 The End of the Story Appendix A: Methodology Appendix B: Neonaticide Appendix C: Mothers Who Purposely Kill Their Children Notes Index About the Authors
