Orphans: A History

Description

Orphans have often been beneficiaries of charity and compassion--but society has also punished, abused and ill-treated them. Attitudes behind this maltreatment are rooted in ideas that those without parents are disruptive, malevolent, and in need of discipline. Drawing on historic documents, interviews and memoirs, Jeremy Seabrook charts history's changing and often loose definitions of "orphans," and explores their many "makers"--from natural or man-made catastrophes to the State, charity, and other social forces that have separated children, especially the poor, from their close kin. But this history is not only one of suffering: Orphans also reveals the uncounted millions taken in and loved by relatives, neighbors or strangers. Freed from constraints and driven by insecurity, many orphans--including Nelson Mandela, Marilyn Monroe and Steve Jobs--have led remarkable lives. Cover......Page 1 Half-title......Page 3 Title......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Dedication......Page 7 Contents......Page 9 Introduction......Page 11 Part One: Orphans......Page 15 1. Orphans......Page 17 2. The Care of Orphans......Page 41 3. Orphans of the Rich......Page 55 Part Two: Orphans in Britain......Page 91 4. The Poor Law, 1601–1834......Page 93 5. After 1834......Page 181 6. Philanthropic Abduction......Page 221 7. War and the Orphans of Strife......Page 245 8. The End of an Epoch......Page 265 Part Three: Orphanings of Modernity......Page 297 9. Social Fosterings......Page 299 10. A Millennial Restructuring......Page 309 Notes......Page 335 Index......Page 347