The kindness of strangers : the abandonment of children in Western Europe from late antiquity to the Renaissance
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The kindness of strangers : the abandonment of children in Western Europe from late antiquity to the Renaissance
University of Chicago Press, 1998, c1988
University of Chicago Press ed
- : pbk
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Note
Originally published: New York : Pantheon Books, 1988
Includes bibliographical references (p. [463]-473) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
In this work, John Boswell argues that child abandonment was a common and morally acceptable practice from antiquity until the Renaissance. Using a variety of sources, including drama and mythological-literary texts as well as demographics, Boswell examines evidence that parents of all classes gave up unwanted chldren, "exposing" them in public places, donating them to the church, or, in later centuries, delivering them to foundling hospitals. This work presents a history of the abandoned child that helps to illustrate the changing meaning of family.
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