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CHOICE Review

The customary review of the literature in this case covers half the book, reminding readers of the development of this area since the identification of the battered child syndrome. The uninitiated reader benefits from Oates's primarily psychiatric and medical overview of abuse and neglect. This overview is to a large extent complementary to a more sociological perspective in family violence, e.g., Mildred D. Pagelow's Family Violence (1984) and David Finkelhor's Sexually Victimized Children (1979). Oates, an MD and professor at the University of Sydney, Australia, writes in the familiar self-critical, British social science style. He provides a longitudinal study of 14 children with nonorganic failure to thrive, and 39 abused children. A liberal sprinkling of well-thought-out charts provides assistance when comparisons of these groups are made. Oates's study is worthwhile for orienting the reader to the literature and in providing a set of findings concerning the differences between these two populations. College and university libraries.-Y. Peterson, Saint Xavier College