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Heroes of Their Own Lives

The Politics and History of Family Violence--Boston, 1880-1960

Linda Gordon author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:University of Illinois Press

Published:15th Mar '02

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Heroes of Their Own Lives cover

In this unflinching history of family violence, Linda Gordon traces policies on child abuse and neglect, wife beating, and incest from 1880 to 1960. Gordon begins with the so-called discovery of family violence in the 1870s, when experts first identified it as a social rather than personal problem. From there, Gordon chronicles the changing visibility of family violence as gender, family, and political ideologies shifted and the women’s and civil rights movements gained strength. Throughout, she illustrates how public perceptions of issues like marriage, poverty, alcoholism, mental illness, and responsibility worked for and against the victims of family violence, and looks at the link between family violence and larger social problems.

Powerful and moving, Heroes of Their Own Lives offers an honest understanding of a persistent problem and a realistic view of the difficulties in stopping it.

"Feminist scholarship at its best."--New York Times Book Review

ISBN: 9780252070792

Dimensions: 210mm x 140mm x 23mm

Weight: 481g

400 pages