Inventing the feeble mind a history of intellectual disability in the United States /
Pity, disgust, fear, cure, and prevention--all are words that Americans have used to make sense of what today we call intellectual disability. Inventing the Feeble Mind explores the history of this disability from its several identifications over the past 200 years: idiocy, imbecility, feeblemindedn...
| Main Author: | Trent, James W., Jr., 1948- |
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York, NY, United States of America :
Oxford University Press,
[2017]
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| Physical Description: |
xxii, 369 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. |
| Edition: | [Second edition]. |
| Subjects: |
| Summary: |
Pity, disgust, fear, cure, and prevention--all are words that Americans have used to make sense of what today we call intellectual disability. Inventing the Feeble Mind explores the history of this disability from its several identifications over the past 200 years: idiocy, imbecility, feeblemindedness, mental defect, mental deficiency, mental retardation, and most recently intellectual disability. Using institutional records, private correspondence, personal memories, and rare photographs, James Trent argues that the economic vulnerability of intellectually disabled people (and often their families), more than the claims made for their intellectual and social limitations, has shaped meaning, services, and policies in United States history. |
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| Item Description: |
"First edition published in 1995."--Title page verso. Pity, disgust, fear, cure, and prevention--all are words that Americans have used to make sense of what today we call intellectual disability. Inventing the Feeble Mind explores the history of this disability from its several identifications over the past 200 years: idiocy, imbecility, feeblemindedness, mental defect, mental deficiency, mental retardation, and most recently intellectual disability. Using institutional records, private correspondence, personal memories, and rare photographs, James Trent argues that the economic vulnerability of intellectually disabled people (and often their families), more than the claims made for their intellectual and social limitations, has shaped meaning, services, and policies in United States history. Includes bibliographical references (pages 303-347) and index. Idiots in America -- Edward Seguin and the irony of physiological education -- The burden of the feebleminded -- Living and working in the institution, 1890-1920 -- The menace of the feebleminded -- Sterilization, parole, and routinization -- Remaking of mental retardation : of wars, angels, parents, and politicians -- Intellectual disability and the dilemma of doubt -- Epilogue on suffering fools gladly. |
| Physical Description: |
xxii, 369 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. |
| Bibliography: |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 303-347) and index. |
| ISBN: |
9780199396184 0199396183 |