{"product_id":"9780861544554","title":"The Undesirables : The Law that Locked Away a Generation by Sarah Wise","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\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Hardback","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43605832237234,"sku":"9780861544554","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780861544554.jpg?v=1714592140","url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/products\/9780861544554","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}