From its title through to its conclusion, this book is intended as an act of cultural and political resistance, not only to the violence done to women at the hands of men, but also against attempts to sanitize such violence behind neutral language and memorials devoid of political substance.

Almost two decades after the Montreal Massacre, male violence against women remains an alarming social phenomenon, and the Guelph, Ontario-based collective known as The Cultural Memory Group (CMG) wishes not only to mourn, but to work for change. Their exploration of memorials to women who have been killed by men is a cross-country journey that provides an aesthetic and political reflection with some startling findings. Indeed, despite official disapproval of such violence, memorial plaques and other installations (especially those that attempt to name the perpetrators of the violence and add a social context to the acts) tend to draw cries of outrage from politicians, corporate sponsors, and university administrators.

The CMG finds that memorials to murdered women are often underfunded in comparison to similar projects that honour fallen police officers or war veterans. Women’s memorials are often placed in out-of-the-way locations, are poorly tended, and are subject to physical desecration, requiring some planners to sink deep foundations so their projects are not easily overturned. Living memorials, such as the annual vigil outside the Sears store in Chatham, Ontario, where a woman was killed by her sexually harassing male supervisor, are greeted with closed curtains and locked doors. They also note a a dearth of memorials to native women (who are killed in disproportionate numbers) and women of colour.

While the CMG has done an admirable job bringing all of this information together, the text is often dense and uneven. The work is weighted down by the use of language normally heard only in the ivory towers of the academy. For a collective that takes pains to ensure women’s voices are heard, it is somewhat ironic that theirs may become inaccessible to potential readers who, interested in the subject, may be intimidated by the thesis-like approach the group has taken.