Introduction

This chapter opens the book with a brief overview of why we decided to write this book in the first place and what we wanted to accomplish with it. We note that we wanted a book that was strong in its theoretical coverage, would be well grounded in the empirical literature, and would be a fun and accessible read. The chapter then goes on to provide a “roadmap” of the rest of the book to come, including brief discussions of the chapters contained in Part I (Setting the stage), Part II (The sources of victimization), Part III (The consequences of victimization), and Part IV (Special topics in victimization). The chapter ends with an overview of how each individual chapter is structured in a similar way so that readers will more easily absorb and retain the information provided.