Heroes of Their Own Lives

Linda Gordon is Professor Emerita of History at New York University. She is a two-time winner of the Bancroft Prize, for Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits and The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction. Her other books include Pitied but Not Entitled: Single Mothers and the History of Welfare, 1890-1935 and The Moral Property of Women: A History of Birth Control Politics in America.

"Feminist scholarship at its best."--New York Times Book Review

• 1   INTRODUCTION2   "THE CRUELTY": CHILD PROTECTION, 1880-19103   THE PROGRESSIVE-ERA TRANSFORMATION OF CHILD PROTECTION, 1900-19204   SINGLE MOTHERS AND THE CONTRADICTIONS OF CHILD-PROTECTION POLICY5   "SO MUCH FOR THE CHILDREN NOW, SO LITTLE BEFORE"; CHILD NEGLECT AND PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY6   "ONLY TO BRING MY CHILDREN UP GOOD": CHILD ABUSE AND SOCIAL CHANGE7   "BE CAREFUL ABOUT FATHER": INCEST, GIRLS' RESISTANCE, AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF FEMININITY8   "THE POWERS OF THE WEAK": WIFE-BEATING AND BATTERED WOMEN'S RSEISTANCE9   CONCLUSION: SOCIAL CONTROL AND THE "POWERS OF THE WEAK" APPENDIX A   RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS METHODSAPPENDIX B   CLIENT CHARACTERISTICSNOTESINDEX