Mark Pendergrast

Independent scholar Mark Pendergrast is the author of many critically acclaimed books of nonfiction, including Victims of Memory , City on the Verge, and Uncommon Grounds . His new book, Memory Warp, revisits the subject of repressed memories, a faddish pseudo-scientific form of therapy that ran rampant in the mid 1990s, destroying literally millions of families by creating false memories of childhood sexual abuse. Pendergrast's breakthrough book on the subject at the time, Victims of Memory,...See more

Independent scholar Mark Pendergrast is the author of many critically acclaimed books of nonfiction, including Victims of Memory , City on the Verge, and Uncommon Grounds . His new book, Memory Warp, revisits the subject of repressed memories, a faddish pseudo-scientific form of therapy that ran rampant in the mid 1990s, destroying literally millions of families by creating false memories of childhood sexual abuse. Pendergrast's breakthrough book on the subject at the time, Victims of Memory, helped to expose the misguided nature of repressed-memory theories, and all major researchers on the nature of memory have agreed with his conclusions. Memory Warp updates the issues covered by the earlier book, but it is not a new edition, as it thoroughly covers developments since that time. While it is partly fascinating social history of our recent past, documenting how this incredible juggernaut of pseudoscience came to be, it also shows how these misguided theories continue to fester today. Pendergrast warns that we may face another major outbreak if we do not learn from the past. See less