The victimization and exploitation of women and children : a study of physical, mental, and sexual maltreatment in the United States /

Flowers reviews the information available about ways in which women and children are abused or sexually exploited. This book is broader in scope but less detailed than works such as Sexual Coercion, ed. by Elizabeth Grauerholz and Mary A. Koralewski (1991); Domestic Violence in Context, by Robert T. Sigler (CH, Feb'90); or No Safe Haven: Male Violence Against Women at Home, at Work, and in the Community, by Mary Koss et al. (CH, Jan'95). It is also broader than earlier works by Flowers, e.g., Children and Criminality: The Child as Victim and Perpetrator (CH, Mar'87) and Woman and Criminality: The Woman as Victim, Offender, and Practitioner (CH, Jan'88). This book covers child abuse, pornography, prostitution, rape, spouse abuse, and sexual harassment. The writing is straightforward and relatively easy to follow; use of tables is effective. Although most of the information reported is relatively current, the author on occasion fails to note that incidence and prevalence rates he reports are based on data collected in the 1960s and 1970s. The work is adequately referenced and indexed. Recommended for libraries serving undergraduate programs in the social sciences. R. T. Sigler; University of Alabama