Research Catalog
When mortals play God : eugenics and one family's story of tragedy, loss, and perseverance
- Title
- When mortals play God : eugenics and one family's story of tragedy, loss, and perseverance / John Erickson.
- Author
- Erickson, John (Journalist)
- Publication
- Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, [2022]
Items in the Library & Off-site
Filter by
1 Item
| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person. | Text | Use in library | JFE 22-3776 | Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315 |
Details
- Description
- xxiv, 193 pages : illustrations (black and white); 24 cm
- Summary
- "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"--
- Subject
- Erickson, John (Journalist) > Family
- DeChaine, Rose, 1901-1970
- 1900-1999
- Involuntary sterilization > Minnesota > History > 20th century
- Eugenics > Minnesota > History > 20th century
- Intellectual disability facilities patients > Minnesota > Biography
- Mentally ill > Government policy > Minnesota > 20th century
- Eugenics
- Families
- Intellectual disability facilities patients
- Involuntary sterilization
- Mentally ill > Government policy
- Minnesota > Biography
- Minnesota
- Genre/Form
- Biographies.
- History.
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Contents
- Brainerd -- Mary -- Rose -- 'Feebleminded' -- Orphans -- Transition -- Ernie -- Michael -- Robert -- Questions -- Survivors.
- Call Number
- JFE 22-3776
- ISBN
- 9781538166697
- 1538166690
- LCCN
- 2022010179
- OCLC
- 1284289022
- Author
- Erickson, John (Journalist), author.
- Title
- When mortals play God : eugenics and one family's story of tragedy, loss, and perseverance / John Erickson.
- Publisher
- Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, [2022]
- Type of Content
- text
- Type of Medium
- unmediated
- Type of Carrier
- volume
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Chronological Term
- 1900-1999
- Other Form:
- Online version: Erickson, John. When mortals play God Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, [2022] 9781538166703 (DLC) 2022010180
- Research Call Number
- JFE 22-3776