Amazon.com description: Product Description: Explores how people's awareness of violence toward the young has evolved from a time when Americans were shocked to discover that their children could be held for ransom, until the end of the 20th century, when sexual predators seem to threaten children at every turn. In a series of narratives, this text shoes how child abduction reflects cultural issues - parenting and the American family, the media and our fascination with celebrity, gender and sexuality, mental health and more. By tracing infamous kidnapping cases since 1875, the author peers into the American mind, providing insights into a society that both values and exploits its youngest members.