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The Undesirables
The Law that Locked Away a Generation
Brief Description
By 1950, an estimated 50,000 people had been deemed ‘defective’ by the government and detained for life under the 1913 Mental Deficiency Act. Their ‘crimes’ were various: women with children born outside of wedlock; rebellious teenagers caught shoplifting; those with learning disorders, speech impediments and chronic...
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The Undesirables
$4499
Unit price
/
Unavailable
The Undesirables
The shocking story of how the British government locked up thousands of innocent people – then forgot about them.
The shocking story of how the British government locked up thousands of innocent people – then forgot about them.
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Description
By 1950, an estimated 50,000 people had been deemed ‘defective’ by the government and detained for life under the 1913 Mental Deficiency Act. Their ‘crimes’ were various: women with children born outside of wedlock; rebellious teenagers caught shoplifting; those with learning disorders, speech impediments and chronic illnesses who had struggled in school; and, of course, those 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 about – out of sight, out of mind.
Through painstaking archival research, Sarah Wise pieces together the lives irrevocably changed by this devastating legislation and provides a compelling study of how early 20th-century attitudes to class, gender and disability have continued to shape social policy.
The Undesirables offers a poignant exploration of these themes, shedding light on a dark chapter in modern history.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780861544554
Publisher: Oneworld Publications
Format: Hardback
Date Published: 04 April 2024
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Oneworld Publications
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 30.0mm
Width: 153.0mm
Height: 234.0mm
Weight: 0g
Pages: 352
About the Author
Sarah Wise is a social historian and visiting professor at the University of California's London Study Centre. Her previous books include Inconvenient People: Lunacy, Liberty and the Mad-Doctors in Victorian England and The Blackest Streets: The Life and Death of a Victorian Slum.
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