Every few months there's a shocking news story about the sustained, and often fatal, abuse of a disabled person. It's easy to write off such cases as bullying that got out of hand, terrible criminal anomalies or regrettable failures of the care system, but in fact they point to a more uncomfortable and fundamental truth about how our society treats its most unequal citizens. In Scapegoat, Katharine Quarmby looks behind the headlines to question and understand our discomfort with disabled people. Combining fascinating examples from history with tenacious investigation and powerful first person interviews, Scapegoat will change the way we think about disability - and about the changes we must make as a society to ensure that disabled people are seen as equal citizens, worthy of respect, not targets for taunting, torture and attack.

A “brief and vital account” of humanity’s long history of playing the blame game, from Adam and Eve to modern politics—“a relevant and timely subject” (The Daily Telegraph). We may have come a long way from the days when a goat was symbolically saddled with all the iniquities of the children of Israel and driven into the wilderness, but has our desperate need to absolve ourselves by pinning the blame on someone else really changed all that much? Charlie Campbell highlights the plight of all those others who have found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time, illustrating how God needs the Devil as Sherlock Holmes needs Professor Moriarty or James Bond needs “Goldfinger.” Scapegoat is a tale of human foolishness that exposes the anger and irrationality of blame-mongering while reminding readers of their own capacity for it. From medieval witch burning to reality TV, this is a brilliantly relevant and timely social history that looks at the obsession, mania, persecution, and injustice of scapegoating. “A wry, entertaining study of the history of blame . . . Trenchantly sardonic.” —Kirkus Reviews

An engrossing and richly panoramic novel from a major new writer, based on a true story... In 1948, the body of an American journalist is found floating in the bay off Thessaloniki. A small-time Greek journalist is tried and convicted for the murder...but when he's released twelve years later, he claims his confession was the result of torture. Flash forward to contemporary Greece, where a rebellious young high school student is given an assignment for a school project: find the truth. And as he begrudgingly takes it on, he begins to make a startling series of gripping discoveries--about history, love, and even his own family's involvement. Based on the real story of famed CBS reporter George Polk—journalism’s prestigious Polk Awards were named after him—The Scapegoat is a sweeping saga that brings together the Greece of the post-World War II era with the Greece of today, a country facing dangerous times once again. As told by key players in the story—the dashing journalist’s Greek widow; the mother and sisters of the convicted man; the brutal Thessaloniki Chief of Police; a U.S. Foreign Office investigator, and, finally, the modern-day student, in the novel's most stirring narration of all--The Scapegoat confronts questions of truth, justice, and sacrifice...and how the past is always with us.

Scapegoating is projected here as an occurrence in justice systems of modern democracies. Daniel documents several disciplinary cases brought against successful professionals in law and medicine in order to do this, arguing that they are examples of community scapegoating by these professions.

This is a book about an analytical approach within art therapy, which may be of interest in itself. The material also raises issues of interest to analysts and psychotherapists, whether or not they work with art in the clinical setting. The book clarifies areas of similarity between the disciplines, and also makes areas of difference apparent.