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    Against Our Will

    Men, Women, and Rape

    Author Susan Brownmiller
    Look inside
    Paperback
    $18.00 US
    Ballantine Group | Ballantine Books
    On sale May 11, 1993 | 480 Pages | 9780449908204
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    Brownmiller's classic work pulls back centuries of damaging lies and misrepresentations to reveal how rape has been accepted in all societies and how it continues to affect women's lives today. A keen and prescient analyst and a detailed historian, Brownmiller discusses the consequences of rape in biblical times, rape as an accepted spoil of war, as well as a child of molestation, marital rape, and date rape (a term she coined). In lucid, persuasive prose, Brownmiller uses her experience as a journalist to create a definitive, devastating work of lasting social importance. 480 pp.

    "Chilling and monumental...Deserves a place next to those rare books which force us to change the way we feel about what we know."
    —The New York Times Book Review

    "The most comprehensive study of rape ever offered to the public...It forces readers to take a fresh look at their own attitudes toward the devastating crime."—Newsweek

    TABLE OF CONTENTS:
    1. The Mass Psychology of Rape: An Introduction; 2. In the Beginning Was the Law; 3. War: World War I; World War II; Bangladesh; Vietnam; 4. Riots, Pogroms and Revolutions; The American Revolution; Pogroms; The Mormon Persecutions; Mob Violence Against Blacks: The KKK; Mob Violence Against Whites: The Congo; 5.Two Studies in American History; Indians; Slavery; Addendum: The Cliometricians; 6.The Police-Blotter Rapist; Pairs, Groups and Gangs; "Gratuitous Acts, Extravagant Defilements"; Rape-Murder; 7. A Question of Race; 8.Power: Institution and Authority; Prison Rape: The Homosexual Experience; Police Rape; The Sexual Abuse of Children; 9.The Myth of the Heroic Rapist; 10.Victims: The Setting; The Conscious Rape Fantasy; The Beautiful Victim; "Blonde Ex-Showgirl Slain in Hotel Suite"; Confessions: "He Made Me Do It!"; 11.Victims: The Crime; 12. Women Fight Back; Acknowledgments; Source; Notes; Index
    Susan Brownmiller is the author of Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape; Waverly Place, a novel; and Shirley Chisholm, a biography for children. She has written for The New York Times, The Village Voice, Esquire, Vogue, Rolling Stone, The Nation, and many other publications. Brownmiller lives in New York City. View titles by Susan Brownmiller
    “A major work of history, a classic . . . No one who reads it will come away untouched.”—The Village Voice
     
    “The most comprehensive study of rape ever offered to the public . . . It forces readers to take a fresh look at their own attitudes toward this devastating crime.”—Newsweek 

    “Chilling and monumental . . . Deserves a place next to those rare books which force us to change the way we feel about what we know.”—The New York Times Book Review
     
    “This is a radical book in the truest sense of the word, a book certain to change the way we think, not just about the act of rape, but more fundamentally, about the relationships between men and women. . . . Brilliantly and convincingly argued . . . Against Our Will is thoroughly researched, carefully documented and lucidly written, a work of stunning originality which goes far beyond the statistics of rape to challenge some of society’s most accepted assumptions. . . . A landmark work, one of the most significant books to emerge in this decade.”—Houston Chronicle
     
    “A definitive text, startling, compelling, and a landmark. . . . Brownmiller deserved much credit for being able to avoid radical rhetoric and sticking to excellent reporting in the face of such explosive findings . . . Against Our Will is a monumental work and a thoroughly chilling eye opener. It forced me to rethink my entire position as a woman and, in the process, it made me extremely uncomfortable—as it should.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
     
    “An overwhelming indictment. We need it, it is a hideous revelation and it should be required reading.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review
     
    “Chilling, monumental, exhaustive, detailed, absorbing and original. . . . Brownmiller’s greatest contribution is establishing the continuity between rape and other facets of American culture.”—Commonweal

    About

    Brownmiller's classic work pulls back centuries of damaging lies and misrepresentations to reveal how rape has been accepted in all societies and how it continues to affect women's lives today. A keen and prescient analyst and a detailed historian, Brownmiller discusses the consequences of rape in biblical times, rape as an accepted spoil of war, as well as a child of molestation, marital rape, and date rape (a term she coined). In lucid, persuasive prose, Brownmiller uses her experience as a journalist to create a definitive, devastating work of lasting social importance. 480 pp.

    "Chilling and monumental...Deserves a place next to those rare books which force us to change the way we feel about what we know."
    —The New York Times Book Review

    "The most comprehensive study of rape ever offered to the public...It forces readers to take a fresh look at their own attitudes toward the devastating crime."—Newsweek

    TABLE OF CONTENTS:
    1. The Mass Psychology of Rape: An Introduction; 2. In the Beginning Was the Law; 3. War: World War I; World War II; Bangladesh; Vietnam; 4. Riots, Pogroms and Revolutions; The American Revolution; Pogroms; The Mormon Persecutions; Mob Violence Against Blacks: The KKK; Mob Violence Against Whites: The Congo; 5.Two Studies in American History; Indians; Slavery; Addendum: The Cliometricians; 6.The Police-Blotter Rapist; Pairs, Groups and Gangs; "Gratuitous Acts, Extravagant Defilements"; Rape-Murder; 7. A Question of Race; 8.Power: Institution and Authority; Prison Rape: The Homosexual Experience; Police Rape; The Sexual Abuse of Children; 9.The Myth of the Heroic Rapist; 10.Victims: The Setting; The Conscious Rape Fantasy; The Beautiful Victim; "Blonde Ex-Showgirl Slain in Hotel Suite"; Confessions: "He Made Me Do It!"; 11.Victims: The Crime; 12. Women Fight Back; Acknowledgments; Source; Notes; Index

    Author

    Susan Brownmiller is the author of Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape; Waverly Place, a novel; and Shirley Chisholm, a biography for children. She has written for The New York Times, The Village Voice, Esquire, Vogue, Rolling Stone, The Nation, and many other publications. Brownmiller lives in New York City. View titles by Susan Brownmiller

    Praise

    “A major work of history, a classic . . . No one who reads it will come away untouched.”—The Village Voice
     
    “The most comprehensive study of rape ever offered to the public . . . It forces readers to take a fresh look at their own attitudes toward this devastating crime.”—Newsweek 

    “Chilling and monumental . . . Deserves a place next to those rare books which force us to change the way we feel about what we know.”—The New York Times Book Review
     
    “This is a radical book in the truest sense of the word, a book certain to change the way we think, not just about the act of rape, but more fundamentally, about the relationships between men and women. . . . Brilliantly and convincingly argued . . . Against Our Will is thoroughly researched, carefully documented and lucidly written, a work of stunning originality which goes far beyond the statistics of rape to challenge some of society’s most accepted assumptions. . . . A landmark work, one of the most significant books to emerge in this decade.”—Houston Chronicle
     
    “A definitive text, startling, compelling, and a landmark. . . . Brownmiller deserved much credit for being able to avoid radical rhetoric and sticking to excellent reporting in the face of such explosive findings . . . Against Our Will is a monumental work and a thoroughly chilling eye opener. It forced me to rethink my entire position as a woman and, in the process, it made me extremely uncomfortable—as it should.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
     
    “An overwhelming indictment. We need it, it is a hideous revelation and it should be required reading.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review
     
    “Chilling, monumental, exhaustive, detailed, absorbing and original. . . . Brownmiller’s greatest contribution is establishing the continuity between rape and other facets of American culture.”—Commonweal

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