Social Work book reviews
Posted: November 19 2020
Social Work student & staff projects, Social Work
Interested in Social Work and want to learn more about the subject? The book reviews written by our Social Work students and staff help you identify the best literature to advance your learning.
Last updated: 11th June 2024
This book explores the real-life practice experience of the authors, in social work with adults. The book highlights their shared passion for rights-based social work.
This documentary focuses on the life story of a Ukrainian child, Natalia Grace, who suffers from spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, a rare type of dwarfism. It also explores issues such as childhood neglect, abuse, and adoption, highlighting significant shortcomings within the justice system.
This book explores the contrast between Birmingham’s children living in poverty and prosperity. Written by Eddie O’Hara, a registered social worker, it sheds light on the growing number of disadvantaged children despite the city’s wealth.
Baek Sehee, a Korean woman diagnosed with Dysthymia, shares her life-changing journey through conversations with her therapist. Her struggles with self-esteem, anxiety, and societal pressures highlight the importance of seeking professional help for mental health.
The Kowalski family fights to save their daughter, Maya, who suffers from a rare condition called complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). The documentary sheds light on healthcare system issues, cultural biases, and the importance of social work in safeguarding vulnerable individuals.
This is a powerful coming-of-age film that delves into themes of tragedy, loss, bullying, and rejection. The film follows the life of Joseph, an albino boy born with albinism, and his mother, Chama, in Zambia. The film sheds light on social work challenges and disparities, underscoring the importance of advocates in supporting vulnerable individuals.
KaracanCherry’s book, which is based on his PhD research, provides a welcome contribution to both Muslim cultural studies and masculinity studies.
'Taken’ serves as a profound exposition of the intricate layers of child welfare, specifically within the context of foster care and adoption systems.
Wendy Kier’s inspirational book Bemorewolf offers you insights to help you heal your deep emotional scars and traumas.
Brandy-William’s book is an account of his experience as a black man undertaking a postgraduate degree in social work and his post-qualification work in statutory children and family social work in the UK.
This book sheds light on the significance and often the unacknowledged impact of culture on parenting.
Dying Declarations gives an insightful look at what it is like to provide care for patients that have reached the end of life.
The book highlights the contributing factors to ‘noise’ in decision-making and proposes tools and strategies to ameliorate noise and therefore improve judgment at an individual and organisational level.
This book gathers the lived experiences of Black Asian Minority Ethic (BAME) social work students and practitioners who experience racism and discrimination in their workplaces.
Inspired by the true stories of four foster children, human rights advocate and Chicago lawyer, Jay Paul Deratany, who is also the producer and writer of the film, successfully portrays the injustice foster care children endured in the early 2000s in the Chicago foster care system.
In Fostering for Adoption, Alice Hill deploys a chronological set of diary entries to offer us a detailed and intimate account of their journey throughout the adoption process, with a particular focus on fostering for adoption.
Steve Rogowski states that his aim for writing the book ‘Social Work: The Rise and Fall of a Profession?’ was to inform its reader of the peaks and troughs of the social work profession, its history and development leading to 2020. The book’s audience is higher education social work and social science students, academics, and social work practitioners and managers.
This book is a compendium of knowledge about active multicultural social work in diverse communities in North America.
This book gives an account of the horrific domestic violence Bekhal Mahmood had to endure and the cost her sister had to pay for not following the norms of her Kurdish community.
The reader of this book is asked to see poverty through the PAP paradigm as a direct violation of one’s human rights, and its radical nature confronts poverty through two interconnected channels based on recognition and respect politics, and redistribution politics.
Douglas Stuart's debut novel unpicks the complicated effects of alcohol use and misuse, the impacts of infidelity, and the daily struggle of poverty in a Thatcherite Scotland.
Hilary Cottam’s critical book challenges us to rethink today’s welfare system.
This book aims are to present and provide an overview of the challenges social work faces in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic and to shape the understanding of what role social work could, and should, play in such critical times.
The book is an excellent addition to texts about racialised trauma experiences
The book has been written as a guide to social workers to help them in carrying out a well-rounded assessment to inform reasonable decision-making.
Mothers Accused and Abused is an important book about women and mothers who were accused of harming and sometimes killing their children.
This book is a compilation of papers written by therapists, sociologist, pastors, theologians, biblical scholars, survivors, and an abuser and read at the conference on Women, Abuse, and the Bible organised by Christians for Biblical Equality. It was written to raise awareness of the increasing rate of violence and abuse in the church and home and the need for clergy and other professionals to collaborate to address the problem.
Broken lives’ is a powerful story which gives the reader an insight into the difficult situations social workers face in their work. Although this book is fictional, the author takes the reader through some of the experiences she faced as a children and family social worker.
Prospera Tedam is an assistant professor of social work at UAE University and a visiting fellow of social work at Anglia Ruskin University. Her 23 years of invaluable experience really show through in what is an accessible, user-friendly guide to a topically relevant area of practice and social work education.
Jane Fenton is a Reader in Social Work at the University of Dundee, and head of Taught Post Graduate Programmes for the school. Her research and teaching interests are Teaching and Values, Neoliberalism and Risk and Decision.
Days in the lives of Social Workers’ is an exploration of the diversity, humours and challenges of the social work profession. Through 62 narratives, insight is provided into the scope and perspectives of the many specialisations and career opportunities for prospective or current social workers
‘My Name Is Why’ is a memoir written by Lemn Sissay, a BAFTA-nominated, award-winning writer, poet, performer, broadcaster, and chancellor of the University of Manchester. The book ‘My Name Is Why’ tells the story of Lemn during his time spent at foster homes.
Josie Channer’s book, ‘Diary of a Prison Officer’ is a narrative publication which is set as diary entries which alternate from her past experiences as a prison officer and present experiences of backpacking throughout Africa.
This book begins with the authors’ Stephen, Lisa and Steph sharing their life stories in the introduction chapter. Individually, they tell their story reflecting on their life journey as a practitioner and their reality of self-care. In the book it was stated that the authors have several years of experience in social work and working in health and social care settings throughout their career.
‘Introducing Social Work’ is a book edited by Jonathan Parker, a professor of Society and Social Welfare at Bournemouth University, who is a leading figure in social work research and practice. This book brought together over 30 academics and experts in the field and its aim is to provide an introduction and overview of contemporary social work.
This textbook is published by Learning Matters, a publisher of materials for professional and vocational courses in education, nursing, and social work.
Barnahus as a model of practice is gradually being adopted in countries beyond the Nordic region, so there exists a timeliness in the publication of a book which comprehensively explores how it is defined and analyses the ways in which the model is evolving. The editors' aim is to bring together researchers in the field to provide a comprehensive research‐based critique which incorporates policy and practice.
Dr. Dharam Bhugun is an Australian Psycho-Social Therapist and Counsellor, author and writer, as well as a Guest Lecturer at Southern Cross University, Gold Coast, Australia. His latest book Intercultural Parenting and Relationships: Challenges and Rewards provides a balanced overview of the challenges as well as the strengths and resiliencies of intercultural parents living in Australia.
This book brought together 21 leading researchers in the field to explore the current state of transnational Social Work (TSW) in five countries that share English as a common language.