COMMENT:Written for a popular readership, but well-researched and aware of the psychological issues, this is an excellent book to be introduced to the skeptical side of the "false memory" controversy. Pendergrast has a journalistic background, and is involved through being an accused parent himself. He provides a good overview of the pitfalls of memory and the peculiarities of the culture of therapy, along with issues like dissociation, alleged "multiple personality disorders," satanic cult beliefs, and so forth. The sections on the culture and politics of the "Survivor" movement make a generally successful attempt to place all this in context, even if they sometimes seem too speculative. However, the interview chapters more than compensate for any minor defects in the rest of the book. The words of many therapists, survivors, accused persons, and retractors bring home the human side of the issues better than any detached account.
DATE:19990625
KEYWORDS:psychology religion satanism
MISC:603p.
PUBLISHER:Upper Access
SUBMITADDR:bibliographer@csicop.org
SUBMITNAME:Taner Edis
TITLE:Victims Of Memory: Incest Accusations and Shattered Lives
