Focusing on the myriad threats facing children, this volume provides insight into possible solutions. It offers sociobiological and cross-cultural perspectives on neonaticide and examines motives for abuse. It describes legal ramifications in the U.S. and abroad, including psychological and psychiatric defenses. Additional chapters focus on shaken baby syndrome and Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, and the book includes a new chapter on postpartum depression. The authors include profiles of several notorious cases, including Susan Smith and Andrea Yates. They also discuss issues related to abortion and euthanasia, and conclude by suggesting preventive measures to child abuse and therapeutic rehabilitation.

Children: An Endangered Species Throughout History. Neonaticide in Theory and in History: Who Are the Perpetrators? Motives for Abuse. Neonaticide and Its Alternatives. Neonaticide and the Law. In Transition: From One Form of Child Abuse to Another. Postpartum Depression Disorders. Infanticide, Filicide, and Other Abuses. The Law and Crimes Against Children. Choice and Reproduction Arguments. Child Abuse: Preventive Measures. Concluding Thoughts and Recommendations. References. Index.

Lita Linzer Schwartz, Ph.D., is a graduate of Vassar College, Temple University, and Bryn Mawr College, and is Distinguished Professor Emerita of The Pennsylvania State University's Abington College (née Ogontz Campus). She also holds a diplomate in forensic psychology from the American Board of Professional Psychology. She has received three awards from Penn State: Outstanding Teacher from the College of Education Alumni (1981-1982), Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching from the University (1982), and Career Achievement award from the College of Education (1992). Dr. Schwartz is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Forensic Psychologists as well as a member of the International Council of Psychologists and the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts. In addition to teaching, she is actively involved in a number of writing projects on topics as varied as adoptive and surrogate parenting, cults and sects, media violence and its impact, gifted children, and female artists and photographers.

Natalie Isser, Ph.D.

, is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, and is Professor Emerita of The Pennsylvania State University's Abington College. She is a member of the American Historical Association, The Western Society for the Study of French History, and the Delaware Valley Association of Modern European Historians. In addition to the books and articles coauthored with Dr. Schwartz, she has written on French anti-Semitism, human rights, and French public opinion and diplomacy during the Second Empire. She teaches part time and has continued research on a variety of topics such as American melodrama, movies, and history; and the social and cultural roots of American populism.