Denial: A Memoir (P.S.) - Softcover

Stern, Jessica

Softcover

ISBN 10: 006162666X ISBN 13: 9780061626661

Publisher: Ecco, 2011

Synopsis

Denial "Denial is one of the most important books I have read in a decade....Brave, life-changing, and gripping as a thriller....A tour de force."--Naomi Wolf One of the world's foremost experts on terrorism and post-traumatic stress disorder, Jessica Stern has subtitled her book Denial, "A Memoir of Terror." A brave and astonishingly frank examination of her own unsolved rape at the age of fifteen, Denial investigates how the rape and its aftermath came to shape Stern's future and her work. The author of the New York Times Notable Book Terror in the Name of God, Jessica Stern brilliantly explores the nature of evil in an extraordinary volume that Louise Richardson...

About this title

Review:

"This month's must-read nonfiction: terrorism expert Jessica Stern's DENIAL: A Memoir of Terror which opens the decades-old file of a crime committed against Stern as a teen, launching her on a gutsy investigation into the ways in which trauma is perpetuated."--Vogue

"[An] eloquent, vital book. . .brilliant [and] indispensable."--Cleveland Plain Dealer

"a compelling investigation into her own life, the life of the serial rapist who committed at least 44 similar crimes and the way trauma affects everyone it touches, sometimes in surprisingly positive ways."--Time magazine

"One of the most important books I have read in a decade....Brave, life changing and gripping as a thriller...A tour de force."--Naomi Wolf

"[A] harrowing memoir of a girl whom trauma has taught to distrust herself and who learns to live with the idea of her helplessness...an appeal to compassion and forgiveness, rather than a condemnation of the destructive impulses that haunt each of us."--Susanna Moore, author of IN THE CUT

"DENIAL [is] a profound human document... it is hot to the touch in ways that are both memorable and disturbing."--New York Times

"[Denial is a] powerfully constructed memoir ... [an] incandescently honest book..."--Washington Post

"[A] stunningly brave book."--Elle

"An extraordinary memoir conveys Stern's process of denial, dissociation, and healing in her dawning realization of intolerable truths."--Providence Journal

"[Stern's] commitment to introspection makes for a book that is memorably searing..."--New York Times Book Review

From the Back Cover:

Hailed by critics and readers alike, Jessica Stern's riveting memoir examines the horrors of trauma and denial as she investigates her own unsolved adolescent sexual assault at the hands of a serial rapist.

Alone in an unlocked house, in a safe suburban Massachusetts town, two good, obedient girls, Jessica Stern, fifteen, and her sister, fourteen, were raped on the night of October 1, 1973.

The rapist was never caught. For over thirty years, Stern denied the pain and the trauma of the assault. Following the example of her family, Stern--who lost her mother at the age of three, and whose father was a Holocaust survivor--focused on her work instead of her terror. She became a world-class expert on terrorism and post-traumatic stress disorder who interviewed extremists around the globe. But while her career took off, her success hinged on her symptoms. After her ordeal, she no longer felt fear in normally frightening situations.

Stern believed she'd disassociated from the trauma altogether, until a dedicated police lieutenant reopened the case. With the help of the lieutenant, Stern began her own investigation to uncover the truth about the town of Concord, her own family, and her own mind. The result is Denial, a candid, courageous, and ultimately hopeful look at a trauma and its aftermath.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ecco
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 006162666X
• ISBN 13: 9780061626661
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 338