- Publisher: Oneworld
- Year: 2024
- Format: Hardback
- Pages: 348pp
- Illustrated: No
- Dimensions: 240x158mm
- Condition: New
- Weight: 0.6kg
- ISBN: 9780861544554
- Product code: 545991
Undesirables
The Law that Locked Away a Generation
Sarah Wise New Hardback
Postscript summary
By 1950 approximately 50,000 people had been confined to a specialist facility on the grounds that they were ‘mentally deficient’ or a ‘moral imbecile’ – terms whose definitions were so broad as to encompass anyone outside the social norm. Following extensive archival research Sarah Wise describes how such a state of affairs developed, casts light on the scandal that ensued, and explores how such attitudes continue to affect today’s social policies.
Product information
Full publisher description
Through the early twentieth century, the British Government locked away over 50,000 innocent people. Their 'crimes'? Being poor and unyielding. This is their story.
A HISTORY TODAY BOOK OF THE YEAR
'Staggering... Wise's book bristles with injustices.' Sunday Telegraph, *****
By 1950, an estimated 50,000 people had been deemed 'defective' by the British government and detained indefinitely under the 1913 Mental Deficiency Act. Their 'crimes' were various: women with children born out of wedlock; rebellious teenagers caught shoplifting; those with epilepsy, hearing impairments and chronic illnesses who had struggled in school; and many who were simply 'different'.
Forcibly removed from their families and confined to a shadow world of specialist facilities in the countryside, they were hidden away and forgotten - out of sight, out of mind.
Through painstaking archival research, award-winning historian Sarah Wise shines a light on this shameful chapter. Piecing together the lives irrevocably changed by this devastating legislation, The Undesirables provides a compelling study of how early twentieth-century attitudes to class, gender and disability resulted in a nationwide scandal - and how they continue to shape social policy to this day.
'The heartrending stories Sarah Wise has unearthed beggar belief... beautifully researched and truly compelling.' Catherine Bailey, author of Black Diamonds
A HISTORY TODAY BOOK OF THE YEAR
'Staggering... Wise's book bristles with injustices.' Sunday Telegraph, *****
By 1950, an estimated 50,000 people had been deemed 'defective' by the British government and detained indefinitely under the 1913 Mental Deficiency Act. Their 'crimes' were various: women with children born out of wedlock; rebellious teenagers caught shoplifting; those with epilepsy, hearing impairments and chronic illnesses who had struggled in school; and many who were simply 'different'.
Forcibly removed from their families and confined to a shadow world of specialist facilities in the countryside, they were hidden away and forgotten - out of sight, out of mind.
Through painstaking archival research, award-winning historian Sarah Wise shines a light on this shameful chapter. Piecing together the lives irrevocably changed by this devastating legislation, The Undesirables provides a compelling study of how early twentieth-century attitudes to class, gender and disability resulted in a nationwide scandal - and how they continue to shape social policy to this day.
'The heartrending stories Sarah Wise has unearthed beggar belief... beautifully researched and truly compelling.' Catherine Bailey, author of Black Diamonds
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545991
Undesirables
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<p>By 1950 approximately 50,000 people had been confined to a specialist facility on the grounds that they were ‘mentally deficient’ or a ‘moral imbecile’ – terms whose definitions were so broad as to encompass anyone outside the social norm. Following extensive archival research Sarah Wise describes how such a state of affairs developed, casts light on the scandal that ensued, and explores how such attitudes continue to affect today’s social policies.</p>
Hardback
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Sarah Wise
General
240x158mm
Oneworld
No
Hardback
20th Century
