Second Wounds

“Second Wounds is a nuanced study of how victims’ rights have become important factors not only in criminal justice cases but also in how crime is covered by journalists and understood as a social phenomenon. In this complex analysis of the rise of the victims’ rights movement, Carrie A. Rentschler explicates the politics of victimization while remaining sympathetic to activists. Based on original interpretations of legal discourse, cultural studies, feminist theory, and media studies, Second Wounds is interdisciplinary scholarship at its best.” - Marita Sturken, author of Tourists of History

“Second Wounds is a terrific book, an important, timely work of cultural history grounded in thorough research and inventive analysis. Carrie A. Rentschler offers a deft account of the origin of victims’ rights advocacy and its influence on thinking about violence across the political, psychological, and media professions, and through them, across American public life.” - Fred Turner, author of From Counterculture to Cyberculture

“Second Wounds is an elegant, moving cross-disciplinary investigation into representational debates about victims’ rights…. [A] difficult yet compelling read.” - Nina Seja, Media International Australia

“[Rentschler’s] intervention into and revaluation of the politics of victimization is a welcome addition to discussions of victimization that find in the rhetoric of victimization (and the speaking position of victim) only disempowerment, resentment, or the flowering of a repressively punitive political project. . . . It will be of interest to a variety of scholars, including those interested in the cross-disciplinary study of trauma and its representation and those in the fields of American studies, media studies, cultural studies, gender studies, and criminology.” - Jennifer Peterson, International Journal of Communication

“For journalism, media, and communication faculty, Second Wounds provides a solid resource for better explaining and examining what victims experience when interacting with media following a crime or tragedy. . . . Second Wounds offers students and scholars alike much to consider with regard to victims of crime in America today.” - Wendy Townley, Journalism & Mass Communication Educator

“Cultural Studies at its best, Second Wounds makes a significant intervention into contemporary US political culture—  not by adopting an ideological filter for cultural analysis, but by offering a nuanced history and critical analysis of the victims’ rights movement in all of its complexity.” - Rachel Hall, Cultural Studies

“[A] thoughtful, provocative, and critical analysis of the victims’ rights movement and victim advocacy. . . .  The author draws on multiple disciplines in framing her argument and her analysis is appropriate for the goal of the project. I highly recommend the book.” - Steven Chermak, Theoretical Criminology