Do Penance or Perish: Magdalen Asylums in Ireland

Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2004 Book. Near Fine. Soft cover. First Trade Paperback. Large 8vo. xii, 256 pp, b&w frontis, list of b&w illustrations, introduction, 1. "Patented Villains": Rescue Workers and the Penitentiary System; 2. "Never Free From Their Expionage": The Good Sheperd Magdalen Asylums; 3. The Good shepherd Magdalen Asylums, Limerick; 4. "A Citadel of Piety": The Good Sheperd Magdalen Asylum, Waterford; 5. The Good Sheperd Magdalen Asylum, New Ross; 6. "Do Penance or Perish": Prostitution, The Contagious Diseases Acts and The Good Sheperd Magdalen Asylum, Cork; 7. The Good Sheperd Magdalen Asylum, Cork (part 2); epilogue, bibliography, index. First Trade Paperback, 2004. "The author traces the development of Ireland's Magdalen Asylums--homes that were founded in the mid-nineteenth century for the detention of prostitutes undergoing reform. The inmates of these asylums were discouraged-and many forcibly prevented-from leaving and sometimes were detained for life. Put to work without pay in adjoining laundries, these women were subject to penance, harsh discipline, enforced silence, and prayer. She presents case histories of individual women and their experiences in Magdalen homes, which claimed some 30,000 women in all. She looks at the social consequences of such a system, and ponders how it was able to survive into the late twentieth century, right through the feminist campaign for women's rights." Faintly creased top fore-edge corner rear wrapper, else, Pristine, no wear. Clean, tight and strong binding with no underlining, highlighting or marginalia. Pictorial wrappers..