When Mortals Play God
Eugenics and One Family’s Story of Tragedy, Loss, and Perseverance
Zusammenfassung
American history is full of examples of discrimination in all forms, but never before has the wreckage from America’s infatuation with eugenics and its state-sanctioned policy of hate toward the mentally ill been put in such personal terms.
In this extraordinary debut book, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist John Erickson answers the questions that have long haunted an immigrant family: Why was a mother in her early twenties imprisoned and then sterilized? What caused her three children to be taken from her and placed in an orphanage that later preyed on children? What led her oldest son to commit an unspeakable act of violence? And, finally, whatever happened to her youngest son who disappeared from her life and was never seen by the family again?
This is a tragic story, yet strangely an uplifting one. Because just as officials believed immorality and mental illness were as genetically linked as eye and hair color, various family members would prove them wrong. In a story that will make you seethe with anger and well with tears, When Mortals Play God shows how valuable life is, and how grit and determination can sometimes relegate evil and injustice to a back seat.
Schlagworte
memoir Eugenics Forced SterilizationKeywords
mental health family history- i–xxiv Preface i–xxiv
- 1–12 1 Brainerd 1–12
- 13–28 2 Mary 13–28
- 29–40 3 Rose 29–40
- 41–58 4 “Feebleminded” 41–58
- 59–80 5 Orphans 59–80
- 81–92 6 Transition 81–92
- 93–106 7 Ernie 93–106
- 107–122 8 Michael 107–122
- 117–150 9 Robert 117–150
- 151–158 10 Questions 151–158
- 159–170 11 Survivors 159–170
- 171–174 Dates 171–174
- 175–178 Bibliography 175–178
- 179–192 Index 179–192
- 193–194 About the Author 193–194