Rating: 
Summary: Excellent debunking of fanatical christians.
Review: In these days where evidence and reason are secondary concerns to the deliverence of justice, a book such as this shines through the lies. The bizarre accusations of ritual child abuse in the 1980's stood as one of the most amusing and tragic examples of bourgeoisie demagoguery. This book attempts to detail how such lies were perpetrated as thoroughly as possible. Unfortunately, the lack of detail found in the research is due to the simple reality that it is impossible to prove a negative. Because the accusations were not consistently proven to be false does not mean they were true.
Given this fundamental basis of logic, the evidence that is suppled by the author is consistent with the circumstances. I give this work four stars, as I believe it could have been more impartial and more directed towards the source of such accusations, the illogical nature of theists. It is no more difficult to believe in satanic child molesters than a supernatural being or santa clause for that matter. The psychologists employed to coerce the young witnesses were not atheists and certainly did not identify with Albert Ellis. Psychology and theistic belief is a dangerous combination, as evidenced by this book.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book but needs to be more indepth
Review: Me being a child of the 80's I remember watching the TV movie about it....growing up in a Catholic School made it even worse.
Ritual Abuse is one of those things that unfortunatly does exist but it's not as precedent as one might think...A very very close and recent case of Ritual Abuse happened to one Rev. Sonath of the Order of Perdition...(Now gone thank god) the esteemed "Satanist" priest molested his 12 yr old daughter in ritual abuse. Google Search it if you think I am kidding. He was also in an episode on americas most wanted. The book itself is a good read with a lot of prevalent facts and case files but like I said...it's out there you just have to know where to look....no card carrying member of the CoS would likely admit to it...but a lot of the "denominations" currently held in the satanic church practice it without anyone knowing...
Rating: 
Summary: Poorly researched, highly biased and totally inaccurate view
Review: Ms Nathan's book is a great apology for predators, pedophiles and criminal satanists who, thanks to such books, are getting away with murder - literally.
Rating: 
Summary: Must Reading for Anyone Who Cares About Justice
Review: Satan's Silence is simply the best book yet written about the ongoing epidemic of false accusations of child sexual abuse that began in America with the daycare panics -- McMartin, Fells Acres, Little Rascals, etc. -- that swept this country in the 80s. Satan's Silence examines several key cases in detail, explaining what happened and why. It is carefully researched, well reasoned, intelligent and compassionate.
Rating:
Summary: On Reviews of Skeptical Books
Review: Skeptical books? I mean books like this one that question our culture's holiest beliefs - in the continuing and ever-worsening oppression of victimized classes, the coming environmental doom etc. Most of the reviews tend to be positive; after all, interested persons have purchased the book or are shopping for the book. Their point of view is already formed. Then there are the other reviews - usually giving no stars, usually short and scabrous: "This book is part of a conspiracy to trivialize a very real problem. This book has been discredited. It has shoddy research etc." "Discredited" is a great word - applied not to shoddy research but to research that challenges our sacred beliefs. "The party leaders were working all night, comrade! All views that go against the party have been declared discredited! See you at the required celebration!" To get more specific, negative reviewers of this book and its many cousins miss the point. Nathan and her co-authors are not excusing abuse or dismissing it as a possible occurrence. Nor are they denying that memories can be repressed. They are simply arguing two points:
1. People are innocent until proven guilty. (Right?)
and
2. Memories recovered through hypnosis or by other means are not strong enough evidence to convict an accused "perp." As evidence, they are simply unreliable. Lots of libertarians are on the internet and obviously are disposed to like books of this kind. Then there are others... the true believers, steeped in ideology and unconcerned about the facts in any specific case. Their only concern is with broader principles - "victims must be protected!"; "abuse is a terrible, growing problem!" These principles are fine, but they should not be brought to bear upon the process of determining guilt or innocence. This process should retain its clear focus on evidence and facts. That is the essence of Nathan's argument, as well as those of Ofshe, Terence Campbell, Willard Gaylin and Dorothy Rabinowitz.
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Summary: An invitation to pedophiles
Review: This book completely abandons the true victims of Ritual Abuse in favor of pedophiles and other child abusers. It is a perfect example of the thinking behind the continued horrific abuse of children in this country.
Rating:
Summary: This Is A Must Read For Those Interested In The Subject
Review: This book is great. It will make even the most ardent believers of SRA[Satanic Ritual Abuse] have seconde thoughts. The research is complete and very informative.
Rating:
Summary: A scary expose of justice gone awry!
Review: This book is must reading for anyone concerned with justice in America. This book details cases of child abuse accusations that put people behind bars for outlandish crimes that could never have been committed, crimes that were so fantastical and so unreal as to be utterly unbelievable. This is not a one-sided account, but a true and courageous investigative expose of the child-abuse and satanic ritual cases like the McMartin Pre-school case that were nothing but a house of cards that came crashing down when the facts were examined with a critical eye. Read it and you will wonder in amazement and disbelief how prosecutors and judges -- elected public officials -- could have allowed these cases to happen and why some of the accused are still behind bars despite their innocence and the fact that the crimes never could have occurred.
Rating:
Summary: A product of the backlash against survivors.
Review: This book is not only onesided, it will also , I believe, harm the cause of those who were victimized by ritual crime. It ignores the 'hard' evidence that does exist for the existence of ritual abuse, and dismisses the potential truth of the testimony of individual survivors. The authors could have balanced their skepticism with the evidence and testimony for the 'other side' regarding the reality of ritual abuse. Instead they chose to ignore it. The title says it all. Unfortunately, though, I think the 'witches' of historic Salem have more in common with those who have been tortured in ritual abuse...in both situations, their innocence is not believed and their persecution is justified by the ignorant and the perpetrators.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific Expose of a Moral Panic that Ruined Lives
Review: This book was a real eye opener for me. It documents the trumped up charges against daycare workers,"sex rings" of parents and grandparents -- accused of the most elaborate and unlikely--even impossible-- crimes against children. None of the charges came spontaneously from children, who in fact insisted nothing had happened. Rather, children were subjected to highly coercive and manipulative interviews by true-believer therapists, repeated over weeks and weeks. the therapists fed the kids the stories they wanted to hear -- and eventually got what they wanted. What was presented as physical evidence of abuse --microscopic bumps and skin tags on genitals --have turned out to be as common in nonabused kids and abused ones. Over a hundred people went to jail, and around a dozen are still there --even though the justice system has tacitly admitted the flaws in the original prosecutions. After all, no one has brought a daycare ritual-abuse case in a decade. What I particularly like about this book is that--unlike some of the other books debunking ritual abuse, repressed memory and the like-- it's written from a feminist perspective. Nathan argues that what women and children need to be safe from abuse is more equality within the family, and more equality for women socially and economically. For her the tragic turn in feminism was the turn toward psychologizing incest and sex abuse and presenting therapy as the remedy, instead of social change. This perspective sets her apart from the dominant strain in the movement against intrusive child advocacy, the "parents' rights" movement, which tends to see children as family propoerty with no rights of their own, and tends to be extremely conservative politically. A wonderful book.
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