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SPRING 2009 CATALOG
Acts of Conscience
World War II, Mental Institutions, and Religious Objectors
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Steven J. Taylor
Cloth $45.00
| 978-0-8156-0915-5
| 2009
In the mid- to late 1940s, a group of young men rattled the
psychiatric establishment by beaming a public spotlight on the
squalid conditions and brutality in our nation’s mental hospitals
and training schools for people with psychiatric and intellectual
disabilities.
The Washington Post, Conscientious Objectors of WWII by Steven J. Taylor
Reviews
"In this important, assiduously researched book, Taylor tells the story of a
courageous group of WW II conscientious objectors who worked in state mental
institutions and turned to the media to expose the abuses and atrocities
they witnessed. The author digs deep into the archives (the book is
generously illustrated) and uses interviews with more than a dozen
survivors and family members of those institutionalized to illuminate a
forgotten and heroic chapter in the history not only of disability issues
but also of civil rights. He pursues the politics of deinstitutionalization
through the 1960s, including in the discussion the landmark work of Burton
Blatt, who exposed the horrors of Willowbrook State School. In a valuable
conclusion, Taylor relates history to the present scholarly study of
disability studies. Every library should have this extraordinary, vivid
history on its shelves."
—Choice
"Set your moral compass by this book. Taylor’s curiosity and his outrage have yielded a lucid, compelling, and eminently readable historical narrative."
—Simi Linton, author of Claiming Disability: Knowledge and Identity
Description
In the mid- to late 1940s, a group of young men rattled the
psychiatric establishment by beaming a public spotlight on the
squalid conditions and brutality in our nation’s mental hospitals
and training schools for people with psychiatric and intellectual
disabilities. Bringing the abuses to the attention of newspapers and
magazines across the country, they led a reform effort to change
public attitudes and to improve the training and status of institutional
staff. Prominent Americans, including Eleanor Roosevelt,
ACLU founder Roger Baldwin, author Pearl S. Buck, actress Helen
Hayes, and African-American activist Mary McLeod Bethune,
supported the efforts of the young men.
These young men were among the 12,000 World War II conscientious
objectors who chose to perform civilian public service as
an alternative to fighting in what is widely regarded as America’s
"good war." Three thousand of these men volunteered to work at
state institutions, where they found conditions appalling. Acting on
conscience a second time, they challenged America’s treatment of its
citizens with severe disabilities. Acts of Conscience brings to light the
extraordinary efforts of these courageous men, drawing upon extensive
archival research, interviews, and personal correspondence.
The World War II conscientious objectors were not the first to
expose public institutions, and they would not be the last. What
distinguishes them from reformers of other eras is that their activities
have faded from professional and popular memory. Steven J.
Taylor’s moving account is an indispensable contribution to the
historical record.
View other series books on Critical Perspectives on Disability
Author
Steven J. Taylor is Centennial Professor of Disability Studies in
the School of Education and codirector of the Center on Human
Policy, Law, and Disability Studies at Syracuse University. He is the
coauthor of In Search of the Promised Land and The Social Meaning
of Mental Retardation: Two Life Stories, among other books. His
articles have appeared in numerous journals, including Intellectual
and Developmental Disabilities, Journal of Contemporary
Ethnography, and Qualitative Sociology.
7 x 10, 504 pages, 50 black-and-white illustrations, notes, bibliography, index
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