Acclaimed author and scholar Sarah Schulman will be returning to the Bookshop for her revelatory book Conflict is Not Abuse. Interviewed by fellow local author, Autumn Whitefield-Madrano, Schulman will be providing insight that will surely lead to an enlightening and important discussion. We sincerely hope you will join us as we explore a topic that is growing increasingly important.
Conflict is Not Abuse is an important and controversial book, especially now. This deep, brave, and bold work reveals how punishment replaces personal and collective self-criticism, and shows why difference is so often used to justify cruelty and shunning. Rooting the problem of escalation in negative group relationships, Schulman illuminates the ways cliques, communities, families, and religious, racial, and national groups bond through the refusal to change their self-concept. She illustrates how Supremacy behavior and Traumatized behavior resemble each other, through a shared inability to tolerate difference.