Charlotte Pierce-Baker did everything right when raising her son, providing not only emotional support but the best education possible. At age twenty-five, he was pursuing a postgraduate degree and seemingly in control of his life. She never imagined her high-achieving son would wind up handcuffed, dirty, and in jail. The moving story of an African American family facing the challenge of bipolar disorder, this book provides insight into mental disorders as well as family dynamics. Pierce-Baker traces the evolution of her son's illness and, in looking back, realises she mistook warning signs for typical child and teen behaviour. Hospitalisations, calls in the night, alcohol and drug relapses, pleas for money, and continuous disputes, her son's journey was long, arduous, and almost fatal. This book weaves a fascinating story of mental illness, race, family, the drive of African Americans to succeed, and a mother's love for her son.

In this "honest and moving portrait of a painful subject" ("Kirkus Reviews"), Pierce-Baker weaves together the accounts of black women who have been raped and who have felt that they had to remain silent in order to protect themselves and their race.

Charlotte Pierce-Baker weaves together the accounts of black women who have been raped and who have felt that they had to remain silent in order to protect themselves and their race. The book opens with the author's own account of being raped in her middle-class home outside Philadelphia. It continues, telling of the author's family's response, the ordeal of going to court and the desperate attempts of the members of the family to mend their lives. In the course of her work as a volunteer for Women Organized Against Rape, Pierce-Baker collected stories of other rape victims. The middle section of the book provides the testimonies of ten "silent survivors" - women who were sexually molested by male relatives during childhood, subjected to "acquaintance rape" or, like the author, assaulted by strangers. The final section gives voice to men who have supported the women they love who have been raped. These narratives are combined to tell of black women's survival after sexual violence.