£16.47 with 25 percent savings
RRP: £22.00

The RRP is the suggested or recommended retail price of a product set by the manufacturer and provided by a manufacturer, supplier or seller.
Learn more
FREE Returns
FREE delivery Wednesday, 15 May. Details
Or fastest delivery Tuesday, 14 May. Order within 3 hrs 52 mins. Details
In stock
££16.47 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
££16.47
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Delivery cost, delivery date and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Dispatches from
Amazon
Dispatches from
Amazon
Sold by
Amazon
Sold by
Amazon
Returns
Returnable within 30 days of receipt
Returnable within 30 days of receipt
Item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund within 30 days of receipt
Read full Amazon return policy
Returns
Returnable within 30 days of receipt
Item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund within 30 days of receipt
Read full Amazon return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer – no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Sarah Wise
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Undesirables: The Law that Locked Away a Generation Hardcover – 4 April 2024

by Sarah Wise (Author)
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"£16.47","priceAmount":16.47,"currencySymbol":"£","integerValue":"16","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"47","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"5xfY0A9ZdXi7oDi2lXoG90TzY%2F28FcGvAYrvdP57Ehjep7zHGHwlGv5p99Z9moBcjqmvjpJslUZrdAu1wH4xh5xdZbCJENraXT3FrM2FO8lQwIZM9vj5NIffPSyQP%2FQV","locale":"en-GB","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

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.

'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

Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Print length
    352 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Oneworld Publications
  4. Publication date
    4 April 2024
  5. Dimensions
    15.3 x 3 x 23.4 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    0861544552
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0861544554
  8. See all details
Next page

Frequently bought together

The Undesirables: The Law that Locked Away a Generation
£16.47
Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 15
In stock
Sent from and sold by Amazon.
+
Inconvenient People: Lunacy, Liberty and the Mad-Doctors in Victorian England
£12.35
Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 15
In stock
Sent from and sold by Amazon.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your basket.
Details
Added to Basket
Choose items to buy together.

From the Publisher

Catherine Bailey

Undesirables

Danny DOrling

Product description

Review

'Is there any miscarriage of justice more grievous than a badly framed law? The historian Sarah Wise makes a powerful case for the prosecution in The Undesirables, a staggering study of 1913's largely forgotten Mental Deficiency Act... Wise's book bristles with injustices.' ―Sunday Telegraph, *****



'Social historian Sarah Wise has written an important, shocking book in The Undesirables: The Law That Locked Away a Generation… Wise throws light on a shameful national scandal.’ ―Independent, Books of the Month



'Superb. The heartrending stories Sarah Wise has unearthed beggar belief… beautifully researched and truly compelling.' ―Catherine Bailey, author of Black Diamonds



'You will have heard about Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries… How surprised would you be to discover that a comparable system operated in Britain during the 20th century?… Brace yourself for The Undesirables, Sarah Wise's sprawling, shocking study of the impact of the 1913 Mental Deficiency Act.' ―The Times



'A masterpiece of historical research. Sarah Wise’s exposure of the ways in which we treated so many people a century ago, and still many in recent years, begs the question of who is the most morally defective.' ―Danny Dorling, author of Shattered Nation

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.

Her new website misssarahwise.co.uk lists the dates and venues where she will be speaking about The Undesirables – plus links to some of her other, shorter, writings and a list of her history and literature courses. Follow Sarah on Twitter/X: @misssarahwise.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oneworld Publications (4 April 2024)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0861544552
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0861544554
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.3 x 3 x 23.4 cm
  • Customer reviews:

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Sarah Wise

Sarah Wise

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

I've just given my website a wash & brush-up, so do drop by and have a look: sarahwise.co.uk

We got: cemeteries, anarchists, bodysnatchers, psychiatrists, vagrants, lost districts of London, Dickens, Thomas De Quincey, the Metropolitan Police, and a load of miscellaneous 19th-century clutter...

I'm on Twitter @MissSarahWise

You can hear me speak about each of my books by clicking the links at sarahwise.co.uk/tvradio.html

And my blog on 19th-century mental health is here www.psychologytoday.com/experts/sarah-wise

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
6 global ratings

Top review from United Kingdom

Campeb2
5.0 out of 5 stars Very inresting
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 April 2024
Verified Purchase
Great read
Helpful
 Report