* A fascinating, thought-provoking book on the emotive subject of rape from the highly acclaimed author of FEAR. 'Joanna Bourke is a talented young historian' SUNDAY TIMES. Now out in paperback

Joanna Bourke, author of the critically-acclaimed Fear, unflinchingly and controversially moves away from looking at victims to look at the rapists. She examines the nature of rape, drawing together the work of criminologists, sociologists and psychiatrists to analyse what drives the perpetrators of sexual violence.

Rape - A History looks at the perception of rape, both in the mass media and the wider public, and considers the crucial questions of treatment and punishment. Should sexual offenders be castrated? Will Freud's couch or the behaviourists' laboratory work most effectively? Particular groups of offenders such as female abusers, psychopaths and exhibitionists are given special attention here, as are potentially dangerous environments, including the home, prison, and the military. By demystifying the category of the rapist and revealing the specificities of the past, Joanna Bourke dares to consider a future in which sexual violence has been placed outside the human experience.

This is a comprehensive survey of sexual criminality over the past 150 years . . . [it] is a thorough, intelligent, and balanced examination of a crime whose prevalence is only rising