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Robin Wyatt with Nazia Masood. Broken Mirrors: The 'Dowry Problem' in India. Delhi: Sage 2010.272 pages, ISBN: 9788132105039.
Broken Mirrors, by Robin Wyatt and Nazia Masood, makes an important contribution to our understanding of Indian family relationships. Through personal interviews the authors examine 60 marriages which ended with emotional or physical violence, and sometimes death. Six cases are presented in detail, two from the side of the victimized wife, two from the husband accused of dowry demands, and two from the perspectives of both. The book is beautifully written, with the cases in different formats (diary, blog, police record, interview transcript, or private conversation) which serve to emphasize their uniqueness.
The main argument, presented very convincingly, is that excessive dowry demands were not...