Book cover of Violence: Reflections on a National Epidemic

Book description

Drawing on firsthand experience as a prison psychiatrist, his own family history, and literature, Gilligan unveils the motives of men who commit horrifying crimes, men who will not only kill others but destroy themselves rather than suffer a loss of self-respect. With devastating clarity, Gilligan traces the role that shame…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Violence as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I loved how Gilligan tells the stories of his work and how clearly he describes the shame that drives so many men to murder. As a forensic psychiatrist working in a high security prison in Massachusetts, Gilligan met so many killers who felt that their only means to self-preservation and respect was through killing. I was particularly moved by the opening passages in which he tells the story of his own family, and the immigration and poverty that defined their lives. By weaving the autobiographical and the clinical Gilligan drew me into this intensely disturbing world of murderers, and brought…

From Anna's list on understanding the criminal mind.

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Book cover of The High House

The High House by James Stoddard,

The Victorian mansion, Evenmere, is the mechanism that runs the universe.

The lamps must be lit, or the stars die. The clocks must be wound, or Time ceases. The Balance between Order and Chaos must be preserved, or Existence crumbles.

Appointed the Steward of Evenmere, Carter Anderson must learn the…

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