Surviving Intimate Terrorism

Hedda Nussbaum, battered and bruised after years of domestic torture by her live-in partner, Joel Steinberg, was abruptly thrown into the public spotlight in November 1987 after Steinberg assaulted and killed their daughter, Lisa. This book tells the painful story of Hedda’s 12 years with Steinberg, how she went from quiet book editor to notorious battered woman blamed for her daughter’s death because she didn’t “get out” soon enough. But, as the title suggests, Hedda not only survived the double abuse, but grew strong in the process and went on to become an advocate for other battered women - writing and speaking, teaching women how to stay out of and/or to survive intimate terrorism. In her Prologue, Ms. Nussbaum states the book’s primary purpose: “I pray that my story be an inspiration to women to see the truth before it’s too late and to use their inner strength to save their own lives and those of their children. If this book saves just one child or one mother, I will be content. If it saves even more, I will be fulfilled.” Ms. Nussbaum is a former senior editor at Random House and the author of the children’s books Plants Do Amazing Things and Animals Build Amazing Homes.