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Ghosts from the Nursery: Tracing the Roots of Violence by Meredith S. Wiley, Robin Karr-Morse
jananza90's review
2.0
This was a tough book to read. Not scholarly, but the stories that were discussed were quite gruesome. I ended up skipping to the one chapter I had to "teach" for a class and didn't actually finish the whole thing.
brinastewart's review
3.0
This was a very good book for understanding how the violence is rooted into the basic needs being met, abuse, and neglect. Very interesting to read.
tasmanian_bibliophile's review
4.0
The objective of this book is to make readers aware of the importance of the first period of a child’s life. The back cover refers to ‘startling new evidence’ that violent behaviour is fundamentally linked to abuse and neglect in the first two years of life. But who is the intended audience?
My assumption is that the audience is policy makers and relevant professionals. While the book is relatively easy to read, it is not one that I would choose to give an intending parent. Which is not to say that intending parents shouldn’t read it, just simply that by the time that parenthood is on the horizon there are many other more immediate issues to address.
This book was published in 1997. By reference to the life of, ‘Jeffrey’ a young murderer; the authors have set out to identify the key factors typifying the profile of a violent and impulsive but not premeditated murder. They do this by examining aspects of Jeffrey’s life, drawing on current knowledge in child development, identifying possible contributory factors and, most importantly, identifying areas where intervention may assist.
This book covers more than the ‘nature versus nurture’ debate that so many of us have participated in. It does not purport to have all of the answers, but it does do a good job of raising many of the issues. Parenting is hard work, and it is especially hard for those who have not had the benefit of good role models or practical support. If societies value their children, then we need to work together – across levels of government and professional divides – to support both the children and their parents or caregivers during this critical period. After all, not only is their future in our hands, our future is also in theirs.
My assumption is that the audience is policy makers and relevant professionals. While the book is relatively easy to read, it is not one that I would choose to give an intending parent. Which is not to say that intending parents shouldn’t read it, just simply that by the time that parenthood is on the horizon there are many other more immediate issues to address.
This book was published in 1997. By reference to the life of, ‘Jeffrey’ a young murderer; the authors have set out to identify the key factors typifying the profile of a violent and impulsive but not premeditated murder. They do this by examining aspects of Jeffrey’s life, drawing on current knowledge in child development, identifying possible contributory factors and, most importantly, identifying areas where intervention may assist.
This book covers more than the ‘nature versus nurture’ debate that so many of us have participated in. It does not purport to have all of the answers, but it does do a good job of raising many of the issues. Parenting is hard work, and it is especially hard for those who have not had the benefit of good role models or practical support. If societies value their children, then we need to work together – across levels of government and professional divides – to support both the children and their parents or caregivers during this critical period. After all, not only is their future in our hands, our future is also in theirs.
dietsmarrissjohnson's review
informative
sad
slow-paced
2.5
A book filled with 300 pages of statistics, many of which seemed very repetitive. This book may have been more effective in a much condensed form.
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