CONSTRUCTIVE ANGER: Retooling Our Anger Hammer is the result of sixteen years of work in anger management and domestic violence counseling: six years in a state-funded county agency and ten years as an independent therapist contracted with the courts and the probation department. The uniqueness of the book is the view of anger emotions as useful in themselves, rather than simply deleterious experiences of irrationality that must be treated and eliminated. We are all familiar with the many published works that list the very real health dangers of anger but seem to put all the emphasis on uncovering and combating the personal dysfunctions that create the negative emotions. This approach points out hot buttons and emotional triggers and the need to eliminate them without discussing the reality of solving the life problems that prompt them or indeed to understand that the response-dysfunctional or not-is a genuine reaction to dangers and threats to oneself in the absence of an effective solution. The book underscores the positive function of anger throughout our evolutionary history as a warning signal of threats, injustices, dangers, conflicts, and stressors that test our skills and character and that demand positive responses and resolutions. The key to constructive anger is to understand the recurring situations that stimulate our anger reaction-with the underlying issues they represent-and to marshal our strengths and skills to best resolve the dangers they contain. The "anger hammer" seeks only to crush and pulverize. Life's challenges require a wide array of skills and tools to overcome them. situations that stimulate our anger reaction-with the underlying issues they represent-and to marshal our strengths and skills to best resolve the dangers they contain. The "anger hammer" seeks only to crush and pulverize. Life's challenges require a wide array of skills and tools to overcome them.