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Many Canadians view families as sanctuaries or refuges from violence and a myriad of other social problems. Like other Canadian sociological books on what feminist scholar Elizabeth Stanko refers to as "intimate intrusions," such as woman abuse in heterosexual relationships, Family Violence challenges this perception. However, what makes this book distinct from the rest is that it provides a comprehensive, critical overview of different types of family violence. Previous Canadian books on intimate violence limited their focus primarily to post-separation woman abuse, male-to-female assaults in marital/cohabiting relationships, and to woman abuse in courtship. Thus, Duffy and Momirov should be commended for examining the multidimensional nature of family violence. For example, they provide chapters on violence against women in intimate relationships, child abuse, and one on sibling, parent, adolescent, and elder abuse.
What also makes this book unique is that it reviews most of the conceptual, empirical, theoretical, and political work done by leading Canadian sociological experts in the field. This is a refreshing and much needed contribution because instructors who covered more forms of family violence than woman abuse had to adopt American texts and/or provide students with a package of supplementary Canadian readings. Thus, Duffy and Momirov deserve substantial praise for providing a highly intelligible Canadian pedagogical resource. I'm sure that their book will be adopted by the...