J.L. Cook is a remarkable storyteller. She adeptly interweaves her personal narrative with the history of child sex abuse in the wider military and social contexts of the United States. The autobiographical material reads like a novel but is far from fiction. She shares the horrible sexual abuse she endured from the hands of her stepfather with her mother's full knowledge. Growing up in the 1960s, her biological father died when she was a baby. Her mother immediately remarried. Cook's stepfather and mother isolated her from all other relatives (except half siblings). They wanted her real father's monthly death benefit from the U.S. Air Force. Any time anyone asked too many questions, the family moved overseas to military postings in West Germany. Silence on the issue is a dominant sub-theme, starting with Cook's inability to talk to anyone about the pain and terror. This dynamic manifested in her mother and stepfather's false façade as upstanding citizens and a "perfect" family. Cultivating this type of outward appearance squelched outside questions about something amiss in the household. At a systemic level, Cook lays open the forced silence of the military in refusing to address these serious issues and concerns. In fact, the opposite has happened: perpetrators receiving promotions while those exposing them, punishment. She likens the military cover-ups to those perpetrated by the Catholic Church with the sexual abuse of thousands of boys and girls by priests. Speaking their truth is the antidote to the silence. That is exactly what Cook does in this powerful memoir wedded to statistics, examples, and a narrative history of the military, social, and legal contexts of child sex abuse. In fact, her work is well documented and helpfully substantiated with endnotes and a bibliography. She provides contact information to all branches of the U.S. military to find relatives stationed overseas plus where to report suspicious situations. She implores her Readership to report suspected cases, in and beyond the military, even supplying a list of signs to look for. To fellow survivors, she beseeches them to speak out, to no longer be silent. This book makes an excellent supplementary text for courses in disciplines such as military history, social work, psychology, counseling, and practical theology. Cook provides a valuable contribution to the fields of memoir and social biography as well as to the public process of exposing the silence on these issues. It is a must read for all people. Sexual abuse knows no boundaries.
About the Author: J.L. Cook is a nationally known rural columnist. A long-time editor and writer at Countryside magazine and author of the popular garden column, "The Scarecrow Chronicles" featured in the Country Today for several years, she has a proven rapport with the folks in "flyover country," because she's one of them. Her work is featured in the 2011 college textbook Acting on Words: An Integrated Rhetoric, Reader, and Handbook, by David Brundage and Michael Lahey. She lives on a farm in Wisconsin with three generations of her family and her neurotic dog. The author is a Master Gardener, Master Compost Instructor, and Master Food Preserver. She holds a B.S. in Communication from Kaplan University and a Juris Doctor from Concord Law School.