Here is a small sample of supplemental reading to better understand the cultural context for many of the themes in Dear Sister.
Domestic Violence + Criminal Legal System:
No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us
—Rachel Louise Snyder
Imperfect Victims: Criminalized Survivors and the Promise of Abolition Feminism
—Leigh Goodmark
Coercive Control: How Men Entrap Women in Personal Life
—Evan Stark
Trauma:
Trauma & Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence—From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
—Judith Lewis Herman
The Body Keeps the Score
—Bessel van der Kolk, MD
The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture
—Gabor Mate, MD & Daniel Mate
Patriarchy, Misogyny & Rape Culture:
Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny
—Kate Mann
Cassandra Speaks: When Women are the Storytellers, the Human Story Changes
—Elizabeth Lesser
Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture
—Roxanne Gay
Abolition Feminism:
All Our Trials: Prisons, Policing, and the Feminist Fight to End Violence
—Emily L. Thuma
We Do This ‘Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice
—Mariame Kaba
“Prison Makes Us Safer”: And 20 Other Myths About Mass Incarceration
—Victoria Law