Review by Choice Review
Bergen reports the findings of her research, which includes a national survey of managers of organizations offering services to abused women, 37 of whom were interviewed intensively; interviews of 40 victims of spousal rape; and 18 months of participant observation at a battered woman's center. Chapters focus on the trauma of victimization, methods for victims to cope with this trauma, and provision of services to victims of spousal rape by existing agencies. Although this book lacks the depth of works such as David Finkelhor and Kersti Yllo's License to Rape: Sexual Abuse of Wives (1985) or Diana Russell's Rape in Marriage (CH, Jan'83), it supplies further documentation on the impact of domestic and sexual abuse, and on the delivery of services to victims of forced sexual intercourse in marriage within the population of abused women. About a third of the book is devoted to appendixes that identify resources and describe the instruments Bergen used to gather data. Upper-division undergraduates and above. R. T. Sigler University of Alabama
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
