{"product_id":"undesirables-1","title":"Wise Sarah: The Undesirables [2025] paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThrough the early twentieth century, the British Government locked away over 50,000 innocent people. Their 'crimes'? Being poor and unyielding. This is their story\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA \u003cem\u003eHISTORY TODAY \u003c\/em\u003eBOOK OF THE YEAR\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Staggering... Wise's book bristles with injustices.' \u003cem\u003eSunday Telegraph, *****\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eBy 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'.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eForcibly 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThrough 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, \u003cem\u003eThe Undesirables\u003c\/em\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'The heartrending stories Sarah Wise has unearthed beggar belief... beautifully researched and truly compelling.' Catherine Bailey, author of \u003cem\u003eBlack Diamonds\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wise, Sarah","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":50554522599763,"sku":"9780861549795","price":16.9,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0616\/4001\/6057\/files\/sarah-wise-wise-sarah-the-undesirables-2025-paperback-9780861549795-1146087728.jpg?v=1741646727","url":"https:\/\/theirishbookshop.live\/products\/undesirables-1","provider":"Chapters Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}