Adoption:

 

Newton Verrier, Nancy.  The Primal Wound: Understanding the Adopted Child

Baltimore, MD:  Gateway Press, 1993.

As a mother you can never fix it, you can only give your children the tools to be productive members of society, you are unable to change the void they feel.

 

Child Abuse and Incest:

 

Poston, Carol and Lison, Karen.  Reclaiming Our Lives:  Hope for Adult Survivors of Incest

New York, NY: Little, Brown & Company, 1989.

You learn to focus on the future instead of your past anger.

 

Shengold, Leonard.  Soul Murder:  The Effects of Childhood Abuse and Deprivation

New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 1991.

Childhood abuse such as incest, stops a child’s development, and changes their behavior for the rest of their lives.

 

Sanford, Linda T.  Strong at the Broken Places:  Overcoming the Trauma of Childhood Abuse

London, U.K. :  Virago, 1991.

You can become strong from trauma, and live a successful productive life.

 

Van Derbur, Marilyn.  Miss America by Day:  Lessons Learned from Ultimate Betrayals and Unconditional Love.

Denver,CO:  Oak Hill Ridge Press, 2003.

One of the first books written on incest.  This book was shocking because the father who committed the incest was a pillar of the Denver Community.

 

Lowen, Alexander.  The Betrayal of the Body

New York, NY:  Collier Publishing, 1967.

How childhood incest and abuse will manifest itself in physical symptoms.

 

 

Child Custody:

 

Chesler, Phyllis.  Mothers on Trial:  The Battle for Children and Custody

Orlando, FL:  Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987.

A book about why the “justice” system needs to change.  It is the reality (not the myth) of the “good old boy” court system.

 

Winner, Karen:  Divorced from Justice: The Abuse of Women and Children by Divorce Lawyers and Judges

New York, NY:  HarperCollins, 1996.

Attorneys use children as bargaining chips to force mothers to financially cave in family court.   This is where the court system is the ugliest, wrong in every moral sense.  Intimidation and coercion are shockingly prevalent.   Denice Reich

 

McWilliams, Joan H.  A Parent’s Guide to Understanding the Effects of Conflict and Divorce – Protecting Your Children from Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

Denver, CO:  McWilliams Mediation Group, Ltd., 2019.

If children are not treated as victims, it can give them the gift of resilience.

 

 

Domestic Violence:

 

Walker, Lenore E.  The Battered Woman

New York, NY: Harper & Row, Inc., 1979.

In court, all women are “crazy, and the myth of the “batterer” is held in high esteem.

 

Berliner Statman, Jan.  The Battered Woman’s Survival Guide:  Breaking the Cycle – A Resource Manual for Victims, Relatives, Friends, and Professionals

Dallas, TX: Taylor Publishing Co., 1990.

A resource guide for battered women.

 

Lewis Herman, Judith.  Trauma and Recovery:  The Aftermath of Violence – From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror

New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1992.

A book about understanding how we deal with trauma, and how we heal from it.

 

Weller, Sheila.  Marrying the Hangman:  A True Story of Privilege, Marriage, and Murder

New York, NY:  Random House, 1991.

How the courts ignored the murdered mother’s pleas and the facts and gave custody to the murdering father.

 

 

Inspirational/Self Help:

 

Beattie, Melody.  The Language of Letting Go:  Daily Meditations for Codependents

New York, NY:  HarperCollins, 1990.

Teaches you to move on in your life, and not negotiate reality.

 

Bradshaw, John.  Healing the Shame That Binds You

Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, Inc., 1988.

Shame has core components that run our entire life.  This book discusses how the shame from childhood will stay with you as an adult.

 

McWilliams, Peter and Roger, John.  You Can’t Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought – A Book for People with Any Life-Threatening Illness – Including Life

Los Angeles, CA:  Prelude Press, 1988.

If you think negatively, that is what you get.  It you think positively, you get that.

 

Mitchell, Byron Katie and Mitchell, Stephen.  Four Questions That Can Change Your Life

New York, NY:  Three Rivers Press, 2002.

They way we think about a problem sometimes hinders our recovery.

 

 

Aspen:

 

Willoughby, Tim.  Backside of Aspen Mountain:  How Five Men Forged a Community – 1880-1950

Boulder Creek, CA:  Willoughbylore Press, 2019.

If you are ever having a bad day, read The Backside of Aspen - and you will understand how lucky we are.  Denice Reich