Prologue to Violence: Child Abuse, Dissociation, and Crime

It's rare to find a work of deep scholarship in the social sciences that both shifts the ways in which we think about fundamental psycho-pathologies AND engages even the uninitiated reader with fine prose. Dr. Stein has managed this feat in a book that is sure to prompt many energetic conversations about the precursors to a "criminal" personality. Particularly interesting is Dr. Stein's examination of--and challenge to--the ideas of psychopathy and sociopathy both in children who have been abused and in the adults they become. This is a remarkable study whose readers will be fascinated and, frequently, surprised by Dr. Stein's conclusions.