First published in 1990, this book is based on a field study of domestic abuse victims and their social network members. In a life history perspective, using values and network analysis, it uncovers the social context of a 'secret' crime against women and reveals the relationship between personal crisis and traditional attitudes toward women, marriage, the family, and violence.

List of figures and tables; Preface; Part I: Battered women: private struggles against a public problem; 1. Reconciling the personal and political through collaborative research 2. Battered women: what life experience reveals 3. Women in violent relationships: why they stayed 4. From victim to survivor: how they left; Part II: Battered women and their social networks; 5. Social network members' responses to battered women 6. The women's interaction with formal network members 7. Social network members' values; Part III: Social life without violence: struggles and visions; 8. The shelter experience 9. Rites of passage to a life without violence 10. After shelter: poor and homeless women and children 11. The children and work of battered women; Part IV: Conclusions, implications, follow up; 12 Summary and conclusions; Epilogue: Five years later; Appendix: Theoretical and methodological Issues; Notes; References; Name index; Subject index.