An important and exciting contribution to the field of feminist theory, social theory, and continental philosophy. . . . Byelaborating key notions of Kristeva in the context of her questions about violence, Reineke develops aspects of Kristeva s work that will interest not only students of Kristeva, but those who are interested in all forms of social violence, feminist theory, and women's issues as well. --Tamsin Lorraine, Swarthmore CollegeSacrificed Lives elaborates a theory of sacrifice designed to explain the culture of violence. In particular, Reineke wants to explain why speech becomes so inadequate that acts of violence against human bodies becomes necessary, why it is more often female bodies that are the object of this violence, and why this violence is exercised against scapegoats that act as substitutes for its original object. Appealing chiefly to the work of the important French theorists JuliaKristeva and RenŽ Girard, Reineke explores a psychological realm at the boundaries of speech, a battlefield where threats to identity erupt from the symbolic into the material world as violent acts visited upon human bodies. After carefully working through Kristeva's often difficult theoretical terrain, Reineke develops these theoretical insights with investigations of anorexia and medieval women mystics, the witch as scapegoat, and the mother in the cultural archives of the West. A challenging and controversial book, Life-Sentences constructs an important bridge between esoteric, postmodern theory and ordinary human life, as it furthers a vital philosophical debate on the question of violence.