Not to People Like Us

An expose of domestic violence against well-educated, well-to-do women, and a powerful indictment of the social-service system that fails to protect them. How is it possible for a highly educated woman with a career and resources of her own to stay in a marriage with an abusive husband? How can a man be considered a pillar of his community, run a successful business, yet regularly give his wife a black eye? The very nature of these questions proves our unarticulated assumption that domestic violence is restricted to the lower classes. When we do hear stories of high-profile victims, we regard them as exceptional cases and still believe abuse doesn't happen to people like us. Now Susan Weitzman counters this assumption by exploring a heretofore overlooked population of battered wives - the well-educated, upper-income women who rarely report abuse and remain trapped by their own silence.