The national bestseller Odd Girl Out exposed a hidden culture of cruelty that had always been quietly endured by American girls. Here, Simmons creates a safe place for girls to talk, rant, sound off, and find each other.

In this important and insightful work, Marshall B. Rosenberg, PhD, demonstrates the powerful healing potential of the Nonviolent Communication (NVC) process. You can transform emotional pain, depression, shame, and conflict into empowering connections. Rosenberg shares that behind all emotional pain are unmet needs. He provides simple steps to create the heartfelt presence necessary for healing to occur. Learn how to transform your relationships, find satisfying reconciliation, and move beyond pain to a place of clear, honest communication. Through role-play dialogues and every-day examples, Rosenberg demonstrates the keys to healing pain and conflict without compromise. The healing power of NVC provides practical and effective tools for individuals, mental health practitioners, mediators, families and couples.

Number one bestselling science writer Jonah Lehrer explores the “only happiness that lasts”—love—in a book that “is interesting on nearly every page” (David Brooks, The New York Times Book Review ). Weaving together scientific studies from clinical psychologists, longitudinal studies of health and happiness, historical accounts and literary depictions, child-rearing manuals, and the language of online dating sites, Jonah Lehrer’s A Book About Love plumbs the most mysterious, most formative, most important impulse governing our lives. Love confuses and compels us—and it can destroy and define us. It has inspired our greatest poetry, defined our societies and our beliefs, and governs our biology. From the way infants attach to their parents, to the way we fall in love with another person, to the way some find a love for God or their pets, to the way we remember and mourn love after it expires, this book focuses on research that attempts, even in glancing ways, to deal with the long-term and the everyday. The most dangerous myth of love is that it’s easy, that we fall into the feeling and then the feeling takes care of itself. While we can easily measure the dopamine that causes the initial feelings of “falling” in love, the partnerships and devotions that last decades or longer remain a mystery. “Lehrer uses scores of detailed vignettes to traverse a complicated intellectual landscape, eventually arriving at modern theories of love…He is a talent” ( USA TODAY ), and A Book About Love decodes the set of skills necessary to cultivate a lifetime of love. Love, Lehrer argues, is not built solely on overwhelming passion, but, fascinatingly, on a set of skills to be cultivated over a lifetime.

In Beyond Doer and Done To, Jessica Benjamin, author of the path-breaking Bonds of Love, expands her theory of mutual recognition and its breakdown into the complementarity of "doer and done to." Her innovative theory charts the growth of the Third in early development through the movement between recognition and breakdown, and shows how it parallels the enactments in the psychoanalytic relationship. Benjamin's recognition theory illuminates the radical potential of acknowledgment in healing both individual and social trauma, in creating relational repair in the transformational space of thirdness. Benjamin's unique formulations of intersubjectivity make essential reading for both psychoanalytic therapists and theorists in the humanities and social sciences. Book jacket

Having studied how boys and girls develop differently, Michael Gurian turns his attention to adult men in this entertaining, informative, and groundbreaking book on the male brain. Following two decades of neurobiological research, "What Could He Be Thinking? answers the questions women and the world are asking about husbands, fathers, boyfriends, and coworkers. Mixing neurobiology with Gurian's very readable writing style, anecdotes from everyday life, and a new vision of the male psyche, the book will satisfy the tremendous curiosity women and our culture have about the roots of male behavior. Women know intuitively that men are different from them. What women are now just coming to realize is that the men they are married to, having sex with, working with, parenting with, and trying to fathom, act and think in very male ways, not only because they are socialized to do so, but because they are built to - neurobiologically. The new field of brain science has revealed wonderful secrets about a man's mind. In this book, women who are eager to understand the men in their lives can discover the new brain science in an entertaining way, as they get answers to the prime question every woman asks at some time in her life: What could he be thinking? The book provides fascinating information about the male brain, male habits, male tendencies and the nuances of men's' actions and thoughts. It is a provocative, exciting vision into the minds of men.

According to Marshall B. Rosenberg, Ph.D., our most basic spiritual need is to contribute to the well being of others and ourselves. His brief, unscripted reflections on the spiritual basis of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) will inspire you not only to connect with the Divine in yourself and others, but to begin to create a world of empathy and compassion, where the language we use is the key to enriching life. Discover an intensely satisfying and joyful spiritual experience that begins with you. In these rich pages, learn how NVC can help you achieve a more practical, applied spirituality. Discover how to: - Strengthen the connection between your actions and your spiritual values - Let go of enemy images and moralistic judgments, and experience our common humanity - Connect with others from a place of compassionate energy

Helping is not a one-way process. Caring for others, the sick, the dying, the bereaved and the injured, places an enormous strain on helper and helped alike. The latter may feel resentment, anger and frustration; the former may experience self-doubt, failure, guilt and overwork. Ram Dass and Paul Gorman offer guidance on how to recognize and deal with the spiritual, practical and psychological stresses of the caring situation. This is a book for counsellors, community officers and those whose family circumstances have cast them in a caring role.

In this sequel to the 1992 "Imzadi, " a gentle and acutely sensitive woman is brought together with a fierce Klingon warrior to care for Alexander, Worf's troubled son. Deanna Troi and Worf discover hidden reserves of courage and compassion as they embark on an unexpected courtship.

Through fascinating case histories and revealing encounters with patients, Dr. Peter Kramer, author of the international bestseller Listening to Prozac , provides a compassionate, immensely eloquent view of how psychiatry really works. Dr. Kramer was recently asked to guest host The Infinite Mind , a weekly public radio show focusing on the art and science of the human mind and spirit, behavior, and mental health. Listen to the show now.

When we think of family, we most often think of our sisters and brothers, our cousins and grandparents, rather than our world family or even our community connections. We still identify with our differences more than our similarities, unless it's convenient to do otherwise. Here, two seasoned authors tackle the question of family and what it means to us now and how it might change to help us address the problems that affect us all. Using specific examples throughout the work, they present a unique approach to what it means to belong to one human family. Beginning with a consideration of how the family unit has begun to be defined by allegiances, by common ties and empathy, the authors then discuss the evolution of the family unit and how the "us" vs. "them" mentality gave way to a way of life that separated peoples rather than brought them together. They consider family values, how they arose, developed, were perverted or perfected to suit the family unit's needs, and the confusion that followed. Humanity on a Tightrope focuses on what families and family values are, and how they often create an "us versus them" mentality that is at the root of many of today's most crucial problems from terrorism, racism, and war to the failure of humanity to come to grips with potentially lethal global environmental problems. The book underlines a basic element for solving the human predicament - quickly spreading the domain of empathy. It takes a close look at how we can do that, building on the findings of both social and natural science and using tools ranging from brain imaging to the internet. It explains how civilization is unlikely to persist unless many more people learn to put themselves in the shoes of others to keep society balancing on the tightrope to sustainability - a tightrope suspended over the collapse of civilization.

The tension between Freud's clinical discoveries about the power of human emotions and the theoretical framework in which he embedded these discoveries has been most eloquently detailed by Freud himself. His agoniz ing reappraisal. in 1926, of the libido theory of anxiety is just one example. But, as is usually the case, theoretical difficulties point to gaps in existing knowledge. At the time when Freud made his fundamental discovery that hysterical symptoms (and dreams) were understandable as reflections of for bidden ("strangulated") affect, anthropology was essentially nonexistent as a science. The cultural nature of human beings (our species' unique adaptation to life) could only be adumbrated by Freud (for example, in the myth of Totem and Taboo). As a consequence, the primacy of human attachment emotions in the acculturation process could not be postulated as a theoretical base. What Freud adopted as his base of theorizing was the most forward looking materialist concept of his the Darwinian concept of individual instincts as the driving force in life. Freud assumed that the vicissitudes of in stincts determine the fate of "ideas" in consciousness. Freud's theoretical base thus impelled him to speculate about the origin and fate of ideas instead of about the origin and fate of human emotional connectedness. This book is a small step along the road which should ultimately bring Freud's discoveries into a modem theoretical framework in psychology."

The Wisdom of Love examines the seemingly contradictory claims of universalism and partisanship for the ethnic or racial Other. In discussions of topics ranging from the work of the Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Lävinas to the Dreyfus Affair of the 1890s to the contending positions of Right and Left in the recent culture wars in Europe and the Americas, Finkielkraut cautions against both an unreflective universalism and an equally inflexible advocacy of the Other. He argues instead that genuine respect for the Other is inseparable from calls for universal justice and equality. Rather than being opposites, otherness and universalism are, for Finkielkraut, inextricably bound to one another.

What do women want? is a book of inspiration, humor, and provocation - an intimate conversation between the reader and Erica Jong. In these personal statements Jong addresses many of the questions that concern women and men today: Are women better off today than they were twenty-five years ago? What was Princess Diana's importance to women? Has Hillary Clinton prepared us for a woman president? Why do powerful women evoke ambivalence? Why do mothers continue to be blamed for working outside the home? How does the mother-daughter dialectic influence cycles of feminism and backlash? What is the relationship of pornography to the creative spirit? Who is the perfect man? What constitutes sex appeal?

In Another Way of Seeing , Peter Gabel argues that our most fundamental spiritual need as human beings is the desire for authentic mutual recognition. Because we live in a world in which this desire is systematically denied due to the legacy of fear of the other that has been passed on from generation to generation, we exist as what he calls "withdrawn selves," perceiving the other as a threat rather than as the source of our completion as social beings. Calling for a new kind of "spiritual activism" that speaks to this universal interpersonal longing, Gabel shows how we can transform law, politics, public policy, and culture so as to build a new social movement through which we become more fully present to each other - creating a new "parallel universe" existing alongside our socially separated world and reaffirming the social bond that inherently unites us. Addressing subjects as diverse as "The Spiritual Dimension of Social Justice," "Spiritualizing Foreign Policy," and "Patriotism at the Ballpark," this book beautifully illuminates how the blockage of social desire creates and reproduces so much of the harm and suffering in the world - and how recovering our capacity to fully see one another will help us to create a more humane, just, and loving future. "Peter Gabel is one of the grand prophetic voices in our day. He also is a long-distance runner in the struggle for justice. Don't miss this book " - Cornel West, The Class of 1943 Professor, Princeton University, and Professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice, Union Theological Seminary "Peter Gabel has delivered a set of unmatched phenomenological analyses of the profound alienation that pervades everyday life in America in the early 21st century. His insightful descriptions of the way things really are challenge us to open our eyes, minds and hearts to our own and one another's deepest longings, and together, to bring one another back home.... Like a pick axe thrown ahead to anchor us all, to paraphrase one of his most evocative images, Gabel's polemic teaches and inspires us to 'think with our hearts, ' to genuinely and confidently love ourselves and our brothers and sisters on this very planet Earth, to lift ourselves and one another on the strength of our authentic Presence, and to move things forward together. Now." - Rhonda V. Magee, Professor of Law, University of San Francisco "Peter Gabel's essays on law, politics, and foreign and domestic policy urge us to take a step back from our deeply alienated habits of seeing, living and feeling--habits that threaten the destruction of the planet as well as of our social, national and global communal bonds--and to forge a new politics grounded in a recognition of our longing for a genuinely loving and spiritual connection with each other ...to use law as a way to inscribe and act on our responsibilities to care for each other as well as ourselves, politics as a vehicle through which to express our deepest social and spiritual commitments and foreign and domestic policy both as expressions of a forgotten or suppressed, but still realizable, beloved community." - Robin West, Frederick Haas Professor of Law and Philosophy, Georgetown University Law Center "Replete with wise insights that reward readers with Another Way of Seeing toward their pursuit of compassion, community, and a better world, law professor, activist and philosopher Peter Gabel's excellent essay collection elaborates upon the meaning of Martin Luther King Jr.'s expression 'Justice is love correcting that which revolts against love.' No matter what your expertise, Gabel's thoughts are pertinent to fulfillment of your human possibilities." - Ralph Nader, Washington, DC

Coffee Melts Bars, powerfully blows the cell door off their hinges, revealing - for the first time ever - life inside the explosive, hot-headed and totally dangerous world of Israel's maximum security prisons. Fishel Jacobs was the only American ever to serve as a high ranking officer, Major, and Rabbi, inside the crazy walls of the IPS (Israeli Prison Service). As an heavyweight karate champ, and eighth degree master instructor, Jacobs is never intimidated by his underlings. Even when they include the world's most evil Islamic terrorists, men serving seventeen life sentences As an orthodox Jewish rabbi, Jacobs is there to mend the broken hearts and lives of his thousands of criminal inmates. Men and women who made mistakes outside, and now find themselves crying and longing for freedom on Jacobs shoulder. A rugged book, these absolutely true stories are fast becoming a national best seller. And, the book has already sprouted a major Hollywood movie. The theme running throughout is: The lower man falls, the higher his spirit may eventually rise. But, the underlying feeling one realizes, through Jacobs' fantastic personality is: Life without humor is not funny Get this book. It will change how you view prison, people and luck. It may change your life. It will give you hope

The author of the now-classic Permanent Partners presents a helpful, compassionate, and wise guide for lesbian and gay couples as their relationships mature.When Permanent Partners appeared in 1988, it was widely hailed as the first significant book aimed at helping lesbian and gay couples build fulfilling partnerships. Now, drawing on additional insights she has gained in the intervening years, Betty Berzon provides specific advice for those in long-term relationships (three years and longer) who are coping with the inevitable surprises, complications, and concerns about identities merging, sex waning, or the inability to resolve conflicts. Since gay and lesbian partners have few models to guide them, couples too often opt for ending the relationship rather than learning to work through their problems.Weaving in the story of her own twenty-two year relationship, Dr. Berzon addresses these issues along with failures of communication, competing career demands, illnesses, substance-abuse problems, and mid-life crises. She also deals with the issue of monogamy, and though she discourages non-monogamy, she provides strategies for how best to deal with an open relationship when that is what a couple decides to do.As the leading authority on strengthening gay and lesbian partnerships, Dr. Berzon provides the soundest and most realistic advice for any couple interested in a stable and rewarding life together.

Kim Chernin is renowned for her prolific writing -- including fiction and memoir -- on issues affecting women's lives, ranging from eating disorders and sex to relationships. In The Woman Who Gave Birth to Her Mother, she offers readers a culmination of that work -- a fully integrated vision that will help women resolve their lifelong struggles with their mothers and become fully independent, capable people. Exploring six compelling case histories of women who have resolved these issues in unique and creative ways, Chernin offers her own insights based on years of working with women in therapy, and on her own problematic relationship with her daughter. A tour de force of analysis, compassion, and erudition, this exciting, important work is further evidence that Chernin is "blessed with the eloquence of a poet and the gifts of a born therapist" (San Francisco Chronicle).