Bringing together evidence from 15 Western and non-Western societies - ranging from hunter-gatherers to urban Americans - this book examines wife-beating from a worldwide perspective.

Foreword -- Preface -- Introduction: Definitions, Assumptions, Themes, and Issues -- Wife Abuse: Does It Have an Evolutionary Origin? -- Fight! Fight!: Men, Women, and Interpersonal Aggression in an Australian Aboriginal Community -- Room to Maneuver:!Kung Women Cope with Men -- "All Men Do It": Wife-Beating in Kaliai, Papua New Guinea -- Household Violence in a Yuat River Village -- Why Wape Men Don't Beat Their Wives: Constraints Toward Domestic Tranquility in a New Guinea Society -- Factors Relating to Infrequent Domestic Violence Among the Nagovisi -- Nudging Her Harshly and Killing Him Softly: Displays of Disenfranchisement on Ujelang Atoll -- Preventing Violence Against Women: A Central American Case -- Men's Rights/Women's Wrongs: Domestic Violence in Ecuador -- Like Teeth Biting Tongue: The Proscription and Practice of Spouse Abuse in Mayotte -- Wife-Beating in India: Variations on a Theme -- Wife Abuse Among Indo-Fijians1 -- Wife Abuse and the Political System: A Middle Eastern Case Study -- Wife Abuse in the Context of Development and Change: A Chinese (Taiwanese) Case -- Wife-Battering: Cultural Contexts Versus Western Social Sciences