{"product_id":"the-undesirables-by-sarah-wise-9780861544554","title":"The Undesirables","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy 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’.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eForcibly 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThrough 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Undesirables\u003c\/em\u003e offers a poignant exploration of these themes, shedding light on a dark chapter in modern history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46851568140524,"sku":"9780861544554","price":44.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/20285283482494.jpg?v=1759107645","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.pro\/products\/the-undesirables-by-sarah-wise-9780861544554","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}