Raised in Captivity: Why Does America Fail Its Children?

In Raised in Captivity, cultural critic Lucia Hodgson examines the contradictory and even harmful responses Americans give when faced with the issues that most dramatically affect children's lives. Hodgson illustrates her points with references to several cases that became media hotbeds: the Baby Jessica case, the Menendez brothers, Amy Fisher, the McMartin Pre-School abuse trial, Susan Smith's murder of her children.

Hodgson's approach, however, is to strip away the hype surrounding these cases to reveal America's self-deception about children's realities. Hodgson doesn't pretend to solve the problems facing American children. But her groundbreaking book urges readers to remove the blinders that have allowed us to evade truly progressive reform. She sets the stage for a new dialogue about how to ensure that children are protected, provided for, and guaranteed basic civil rights.