The authors review popular, legal and scientific explanations of rape and offer a new and persuasive approach to understanding violence against women. They show that rape is not common to all societies and conclude that it is linked to general levels of sexual inequality, sexism and violence. It is seen as a consequence of the development of capitalism. In supporting their thesis, the authors present material that will be of great interest to anthropologists, criminologists, political economists, and people in women′s studies. `This is the best book available on rape and will remain so for the forseeable future. It is inordinately well written, brilliantly conceived, and imaginatively researched...I wholeheartedly recommend this book .′ -- William J Chamblis, University College, Cardiff `This American book focuses on the social and economic foundations of rape. It argues that capitalism leads to both class inequalities and high levels of violence, and that it is this combination, rather than inequalities between men and women, which supports the continuation of rape. -- Studies on Women Abstracts `This is a provocative analysis which will interest academics of all kinds. It is an interesting example of critical analysis applied to a single, social concern.′ -- Journal of the Insitute of Health Education, Vol 21 No 4, 1984 `This book makes an important contribution to understanding rape by situating it in new theoretical terrain. This account makes it clearer than ever...that there are connections between violence towards women, sexual inequality, and exploitative and oppressive social systems, and that the way out must be through profound economic and social transformation.′ -- Contemporary Sociology, Vol 14 No 4, July 1985 `This book is of interest to all scholars for it provides an excellent overview of the problems with sexual inequality and rape.′ -- Annals of Regional Science