“In a culture toxic with aggression, competition, and 'power over' images, this book seeks to heal. Whether discussing race; isolation and loneliness; or raising caring, empathic sons, the authors write with authority and heart about important and deeply relevant issues. I cannot think of a book we need more in our sad, hard times.”

—Mary Pipher, PhD, author of Reviving Ophelia and Letters to a Young Therapist


“To encounter the transformative vision of the Stone Center in a single volume is always a special pleasure. The theoretical and clinical wisdom in this book is stunning in its power to change the reader in some fundamental way, and to move the field of psychotherapy toward a more accurate, compassionate, and multilayered understanding of what hurts and heals in human relationships.”

—Harriet Lerner, PhD, author of The Dance of Anger


“This is the book where the Stone Center theorists ask: 'What purpose and whose interests do psychological theories serve?' Refusing complicity with a culture of domination, they explore the complexity of human connection—its cultural contexts and therapeutic challenges. Readers will find an invitation to think about complicity and competition, especially among women, and also a guide to envisioning how connection can follow disconnection in families and at work as well as in therapy.”

—Carol Gilligan, PhD, author of The Birth of Pleasure