{"product_id":"9780861549795","title":"The Undesirables: The Law that Locked Away a Generation","description":"Author: Wise, Sarah\u003cbr\u003eISBN: 9780861549795\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Bloomsbury\u003cbr\u003eYear first published: 29 Jul 2025\u003cbr\u003ePages: 352 Format: Paperback \/ softback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Staggering.. Wise's book bristles with injustices.' Sunday Telegraph, *****\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\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 .\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\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, 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'The heartrending stories Sarah Wise has unearthed beggar belief.. beautifully researched and truly compelling.' Catherine Bailey, author of Black Diamonds","brand":"Ships in 10 to 15 days","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46655849529502,"sku":"UBD-9780861549795","price":26.78,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0400\/9043\/5742\/files\/9780861549795.jpg?v=1774835477","url":"https:\/\/classicbargains.com.au\/products\/9780861549795","provider":"Classic Bargains Australia","version":"1.0","type":"link"}