The Disability Book Archive

[ID: A book cover. The cover shows four young girls, all wearing black boots and over the knee white dresses, standing shoulder to shoulder in a line. The title, “The Degenerates”, is written in block red capital across the lower centre of the cover. The authors name is lower right below this, in smaller, black block capitals. /end]

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Content Warning:

• Pregnancy
• Miscarriage
• Forced Institutionalisation
• Ableism
• Homophobia
• Bullying
• Child Death
• Suicidal Thoughts
• Self Harm
• Death of a Parent
• Eugenics
• Outdated Terminology

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Summary:

In the tradition of Girl, Interrupted, this fiery historical novel follows four young women in the early 20th century whose lives intersect when they are locked up by a world that took the poor, the disabled, the marginalized—and institutionalized them for life.

The Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded is not a happy place. The young women who are already there certainly don’t think so. Not Maxine, who is doing everything she can to protect her younger sister Rose in an institution where vicious attendants and bullying older girls treat them as the morons, imbeciles, and idiots the doctors have deemed them to be. Not Alice, either, who was left there when her brother couldn’t bring himself to support a sister with a club foot. And not London, who has just been dragged there from the best foster situation she’s ever had, thanks to one unexpected, life altering moment. Each girl is determined to change her fate, no matter what it takes.

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Notes:

Here is the link to a short 2020 article about the book, written by the author.

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Archivist Comments:

This one wasn’t actually a submission; I saw a post about it prior to making my original list and it was one of the first ones that I added on. As well as being a disability activist, Mann showcased her research for this book by apparently including a bibliography at the end.

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