It is comfortable to believe that incest and child sexual abuse need not concern us because we have institutions to deal with these problems. This book disallows that complacency and shows that the systems has failed, and worse - that it has generated a dangerous atmosphere of denial and cover-up. Focusing on five case studies, Rosen and Etlin expose a systemic breakdown so fundamental, so irrational, and so shocking that the necessity of radical reform becomes patent.

While explaining the historical, social, and psychological backdrop for this state of affairs, the authors refuse to minimize the problem. They demonstrate that most of the solutions being proposed by professionals in the field are doomed to frustration and failure. In their final chapter, Rosen and Etlin present a proposal for relief.

While it is too late to undo the damage already done by the combined forces of child sexual abuse and institutional denial, this book can at least serve the children now trapped - like hostages - in this social war.